Oxford University announced on Monday that it has launched a challenging trial to re-infect participants with the new coronavirus to better understand how the immune system responds a second time and possibly pave the way for improved vaccines and treatments.
In February, Britain marked the first country in the world to turn ‘challenge trials’ green, reports Reuters, which usually involves a closely monitored study involving a deliberate contamination of a subject with a pathogen or bug, to determine the consequences. of the infection ‘, according to a related university release published Monday.
“The information from this work enables us to design better vaccines and treatments, and also to understand whether people are protected after having COVID, and for how long,” said Helen McShane, professor of vaccination at the Department Pediatrics, University of Oxford and lead researcher on the study, said in part in the release.
CORONAVIRUS CAN PROTECT UP TO AT LEAST 5 MONTHS REINFECTION: STUDY
The study was divided into two phases; the first to determine the lowest dose of virus to initiate virus replication, but resulting in only ‘few or no symptoms’ in up to 64 healthy adults aged 18 to 30 who fully recovered from a previous coronavirus infection. In the second phase, which is scheduled to launch this summer, all participants from the previous phase will be infected with the set dose.
The study assessed the original strain and people participating in the study will be quarantined for at least 17 days in a “specially designed hospital package”. Researchers will monitor participants and perform tests such as CT scans on the lungs and MRI scans on the heart, according to the release.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Participants who experience symptoms will receive the Regeneron antibody treatment and all participants will be discharged from the hospital if they are no longer contagious.
“The findings may have important implications for the future use of Covid-19, not only the development of vaccines but also research on the range of effective treatments that are also urgently needed,” said Shobana Balasingam, senior research adviser. by Wellcome, said. Trust, finance the study, partly in the release. “To maintain the pace of scientific research and development, crucial studies like this are the only way to get this pandemic ahead and bring it under control.”