Dynamics of Population Immunity Due to the Herd Effect in the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The novel Coronavirus 2 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-Cov-2) has led to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, which has surprised health authorities around the world, quickly producing a global health crisis. Different actions to cope with this situation are being developed, including confinement, different treatments to improve symptoms, and the creation of the first vaccines. In epidemiology, herd immunity is presented as an area that could also solve this new global threat. In this review, we present the basis of herd immunology, the dynamics of infection transmission that induces specific immunity, and how the application of immunoepidemiology and herd immunology could be used to control the actual COVID-19 pandemic, along with a discussion of its effectiveness, limitations, and applications.

Modulators of the Personal and Professional Threat Perception of Olympic Athletes in the Actual COVID-19 Crisis

“…The COVID-19 crisis is a new threat that put the adaptive mechanisms of the human being, both physiologically and psychologically, through its paces. The human being is a highly adaptative organism, for this reason we developed in our evolution different physiological and psychological defense mechanism that allow us to overcome different eliciting contextual scenarios, but some of these phylogenetic defense system could produce non adaptative behavior in current society and specially in exceptional situations (Clemente-Suárez et al, 2020). In the current global home confinement situation due to the COVID-19 pandemic, most individuals are exposed to an unprecedented stressful situation of unknown duration, being a focus of stress, anxiety, fear, and depression or disrupt sleep due to a negative appraisal of the situation and self-protection behaviors (Altena et al, 2020;Li et al, 2020).…”

“…The lack of vaccines and the actual no population immunity due to the herd effect increase the feeling of danger and uncertainty in this health crisis (Clemente-Suárez, 2020). The perception of uncertainty and lack of control is a source of psychophysiological variations as sympathetic autonomic branch activity, cortisol, and catecholamine release may increase, allowing different pathologies and psychopathologies, such as anxiety or even depression (Clemente-Suárez et al, 2020). Previous researches found how confinement produce altered immune functions paralleled by changes in stress hormone levels, being dependent to the specific characteristics of the confined environment (Strewe et al, 2015).…”

The Effect of COVID-19 Confinement in Behavioral, Psychological, and Training Patterns of Chess Players

“…Therefore, on March 11, 2020 the new coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was described as a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) (2020a). With no vaccine available and no herd immunity, most of the world governments decreed a quarantine to stop the pandemic (Clemente-Suárez et al, 2020).…”

Herd Immunity to SARS-CoV-2 among the Population in Saint-Petersburg during the COVID-19 Epidemic

“…в санкт-петербурге первый случай COVID-19 диагностирован 2 марта 2020 г., период нарастания заболеваемости продолжался в течение 10 недель, максимальные показатели зафиксированы в середине мая, в дальнейшем отмечалось статистически значимое снижение заболеваемости. указанная динамика развития эпидемического процесса инфекции, обусловленной SARS-CoV-2, и опубликованные данные о сроках формирования антител класса IgG к вирусу в течение 2-4 недель [4] послужили основанием для выбора оптимального срока проведения исследования по определению серопревалентности к COVID-19 среди населения санкт-петербурга (рисунок).…”