COVID 19 test

[Kherl21]

CLL for 4 years on W&W. Tested positive for COVID 19 April 10, fortunately mild case! Recovered quickly! BUT still testing positive 4 weeks later, last test may 8! Any info on CLL effect on this? Thanks!

[Hidden]

Hello,

I'm glad to hear that you are ok.... I just wondered, what were your symptoms, if any?

[Kherl21 in reply to Hidden]

Body aches, temp 99.5, no appetite, occasional cough! Lasted about 4 days! Did feel generally weak for another 4-5 gays! Hubby had same but only 3 days and tested negative 2 weeks ago!

[Hidden in reply to Kherl21]

Thank you for the information......

[lankisterguy Volunteer]

There are numerous theories about how we CLL patients may react to the COVID-19 virus, but few well documented data sets.

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CLL is a cancer of the portion of our immune systems that create memory B cells. And those are what develop in reaction to infection from bacterias, viruses, fungi and especially vaccines. So having unpredictable timelines for the immune system to go through the various stages of developing immunity is not surprising for those of us with CLL.

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There was a CLL Society webinar cllsociety.org/2020/03/cll-...

in which Dr. Susan LeClair discussed the typical timing of developing long term immunity with a chart at 12:50 youtu.be/ZgBEP-u6oa0?t=999(Not working as expected?)

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Len

[Kherl21 in reply to lankisterguy]

Thanks!

[AdrianUK in reply to Kherl21]

I have summarised a lot of data about blood cancers and COVID19 in this post: healthunlocked.com/cllsuppo...

My own hypothesis about your own situation is that perhaps you have managed to fight this disease off with your innate immunity (the kind that doesn't require antibodies) but perhaps the antibodies have not been triggered enough to abolish it altogether?

On the other hand I have read a theory somewhere that persistent positive tests after a COVID19 infection can be caused by a false positive to do with dead human lung cells contaminated with the virus being in the sample somehow. Not sure I fully understand that but it kind of makes sense. Clearly though it must be frustrating to you feeling well but continuing to test positive, and I presume your doctors are advising you to self isolate anyway to protect others in case you are still infectious?

I would definitely advise getting advice from an infectious disease expert about your situation, to be sure that you are doing all the right things.

[HopeME in reply to AdrianUK]

Is innate immunity measurable by any tests our doctors can run? Do some folks have strong and others weak innate immunity? I hadn't heard this term before although it has been alluded to.

Thanks,

Mark

[AdrianUK in reply to HopeME]

Hi. Here’s an article that uses the various ways the immune system can break down to explain innate and active immunity.

immunology.org/policy-and-p...

Note that a big part of The innate system is phagocytes like neutrophils. So for sure a neutrophil count is one measure of innate immunity but just as a good lymphocyte count alone doesn’t guarantee you have a good adaptive immune system a neutrophil count doesn’t tell the whole story!

The immune system is incredibly complex and there is a lot of communication that goes on between the various types of cells involved.

Hope that helps a bit.

[HopeME in reply to AdrianUK]

Very helpful.

Thank you,

Mark