Healthy young people are to be reinfected with the Covid virus to see how their immune systems cope the second time round. The aim of the study is to ultimately design better treatments and vaccines.
people who had Covid-19 are volunteering in a trial that will deliberately expose them to the virus again. Re-exposure will be in a “safe and controlled environment”, with a medical team monitoring their health.
Up to 64 people aged 18-30 will be taking part. They will spend 17 days in a quarantine unit at a hospital, and undergo numerous tests.
The first phase of this study, starting this month, aims to determine the lowest dose of virus that can take hold and start replicating, but produce few or no symptoms.
In the second phase, expected to start in the summer, participants will be infected with this dose.
Any volunteers who develop symptoms will get an antibody treatment. This will help them to fight off the infection.
People will only be discharged when they are not contagious any more.
Challenge Studies
Chief investigator Prof Helen McShane says these types of studies tell us things that others can’t because, unlike natural infection, they are in tight control. They have a long history of being able to generate important information about infections under strictly controlled conditions. When volunteers are reinfected, we will know exactly how their immune system reacted to the first Covid infection, exactly when the second one occurs, and exactly how much virus they got.
The study will not only enhance our basic understanding, it may also help to design tests that can accurately predict whether people are protected. These studies significantly improve our understanding of virus infection and of the immune response.
In addition, they provide valuable information which helps create vaccines and develop anti-viral therapies. It also allows for the accurate assessment of the effectiveness of vaccination.
Thank you for reading Young People to be Reinfected with Covid for Study
Looking for a storage solution for your garden furniture, tools and belongings? Look no further – Garden Sheds at affordable prices.