Image credit:
Deposithotos.com
The University of Oxford , in the United Kingdom, is looking for volunteers who agree to be infected with Covid-19 for the second time. In exchange, the study participants will receive a payment of 7 thousand dollars , that is, about 140 thousand Mexican pesos .
According to a statement from the British institution, the 64 volunteers required must be young people between 18 and 30 years old , and, without exception, have been infected with Covid-19 naturally at some time.
The study by the British institution aims to measure what dose of Covid-19 is necessary to cause a second infection , as well as the reaction of the immune system to it. It is a matter that, until now, has not been able to be studied in depth.
"When we re-infect these participants, we will know exactly how their immune systems reacted to the first Covid-19 infection, exactly when the second infection occurred, and exactly how much virus they received," explained Helen McShane , leader of the research.
The young volunteers will be placed in isolation for 17 days and will remain in a hospital. There they will receive the necessary care and will be monitored by the team of researchers. In case of symptoms, they will be treated with monoclonal antibodies.
The study will last 12 months and after hospital discharge, the institution will follow up the volunteers for 8 more days.
| Human challenge trial launched to study immune response to # COVID19 .
- University of Oxford (@UniofOxford) April 19, 2021
Though the virus has now been active for a year, the trial aims to find out what happens when people who have already had COVID-19 are infected for a second time.
Prof Helen McShane explains more pic.twitter.com/YbrjsXZLsh
McShane pointed out that, unlike the first study of this type, this one has the possibility of infecting volunteers with some of the new coronavirus variants .
"The original strain that appeared in China at the end of 2019 will be used, but the possibility of including one of the new variants is also being considered," the researcher explained.
It should be remembered that the University of Oxford collaborated with the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca to develop a vaccine against Covid-19 , which today is under scrutiny by some countries for being allegedly related to cases of thrombosis. This controversy led to a name change for the inoculator , which is now called Vaxzevria .
"The information obtained from this work will help to design better vaccines and treatments , but also to understand if people are protected after having Covid and for how long," concluded McShane.