A study with test persons from the Freiburg region wants to find out how common antibodies against the coronavirus are in the population. Now the second round has started.
How widespread are antibodies against the novel coronavirus in the population? This is the central question of a Germany-wide study by the Helmholtz Center for Infection Research (HZI). In the summer, around 3000 randomly selected people from Freiburg and the Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald district were interviewed for this and were able to submit a blood sample. The next round of the study started this week.
Once again, test subjects from Freiburg and the district were randomly selected for the study. You can come to the interviews and blood tests at the examination center in the former refugee home on Leinenweberstrasse in Freiburg. But the participants from the first round were also invited back. Among other things, it should be checked how the number of antibodies has developed, if any were found during the first measurement.
A total of 65,000 participants
The study is taking place in several locations in Germany – Freiburg was one of the first. At the beginning, the head of the study announced the first partial results for this autumn. “We are working on the evaluation of the first three study locations and will probably publish the first results soon,” said the HZI study team in response to a BZ request.
How widespread the Sars-CoV-2 virus was and still is in the population is what the representative one-year study is intended to find out. “Our main goal is to get a picture of the whole of Germany so that we can compare different regions with one another,” said study director Gérard Krause in the summer. A total of 65,000 people take part.
Above all, the researchers want to track down unnoticed infections and mild disease courses, but also make general statements about the groups of people in which the virus has spread particularly. Ultimately, the aim is to provide a recommendation for all of Germany on how to specifically prevent infections with the virus.
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