UK: volunteers to be re-infected with coronavirus

As part of a scientific study, British volunteers who have recovered from the coronavirus will be re-infected, according to AMPE.

The study is activated today, and the volunteers will be infected in the summer. The main task of scientists is to determine how the immune system of people who have had covid disease will react to a repeated attack of the virus.

In February, during a special investigation involving volunteers, the UK became the first country in the world to conduct such an experiment. The next one will differ from the previous one, since it is aimed precisely at re-infection, and volunteers already infected with COVID-19 will become participants. Oxford Vaccine Specialist Ellen McCain says:

“The information from this study will enable us to develop more effective vaccines and treatments, and to understand if people are protected after being infected with COVID-19 and for how long.”

Similar studies were carried out earlier in relation to diseases such as cholera, typhoid fever, malaria, and influenza. Their results have played a critical role in the development of vaccines and drugs.

The research coming up in the summer will take place in several stages. At the first, scientists will try to determine the minimum dose of COVID-19, which is necessary for its reproduction in about half of the participants. Particular attention will be paid to asymptomatic cases. Then different volunteers will be infected with a fixed dose from the first step.

At least 64 participants between 18 and 30 years old who have had a coronavirus 3 months ago will be re-infected with the SARS-CoV-2 strain. All of them will be under the supervision of specialists in quarantine for 17 days. If symptoms develop, the study participant will be treated with Regeneron monoclonal antibodies.

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