The trial was conducted to test the immune system during Covid-19 reinfection.
REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, LONDON – Researchers at the University of Oxford have announced that they will launch a trial known as human challenge trial or the human challenge test. This is to understand what happens when a person is infected with the new type of corona virus (COVID-19) for the second time.
Reported CNBCOn Monday (19/4), researchers will examine the types of immune responses that can prevent people infected with COVID-19 from returning. They investigated how the immune system was able to fight the virus a second time.
At this time, little is known about what happens to people who have contracted the new coronavirus and then become infected a second time. The trial will take place in two stages, with different participants at each stage.
The first phase is scheduled to take place this month and the second phase starts next summer around June. In medical research, the human challenge test is a controlled study that engages participants deliberately with a pathogen or insect to study its effects.
“The challenge study tells us things that other studies can’t because unlike natural infections, it’s very tightly controlled,” said Helen McShane. head of research studies and professor of vaccinology at the Department of Pediatrics, University of Oxford.
According to McShane, when re-infecting participants, the research team will know more clearly how the immune system reacts to the first infection and exactly when the second infection occurs. It also includes how many viruses they get.
The research is expected to help improve scientists’ basic understanding of the new coronavirus. In addition, it may also help design reliable tests to predict whether humans are in a protected condition.
In phase one, up to 64 volunteers between the ages of 18 and 30 who were previously infected will naturally be exposed to the virus again under controlled conditions. Researchers will supervise the participants’ care while they undergo CT scans of the lungs and MRI scans of the heart while performing specially designed isolation for a minimum of 17 days.
All participants must be in good shape and fully recovered from the first infection to minimize risks. Trial participants will only leave the quarantine unit if they are no longer infected and are at risk of transmitting the disease.
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