UK to end pandemic, ‘intentional infection human test’
Paying money and recruiting 50 people… Initial results announced this fall
It is one of the infectious disease research methods, but there is no cure, and there is a controversy
What if hospitalization, death, or long-term sequelae occur?
Vaccinations for the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) are taking place in the UK on the 15th (local time). [AFP=연합뉴스 자료사진]
The results of a human infection test that intentionally make a person contract the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) and then observe it are expected to come out soon.
According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on the 6th, researchers in the UK’s COVID-19 human infection test are hoping to publish the initial results after peer evaluation within this fall.
In the UK, researchers from Imperial College London, supported by the government, and researchers from Oxford University, sponsored by the Wellcome Trust, a health and medical support foundation, have been conducting human infection tests for COVID-19 since last spring, respectively.
So far, about 50 people have participated in the experiment, the WSJ said.
Researchers expect to see how COVID-19 affects cardiorespiratory function and concentration before showing symptoms through human infection testing.
In addition, I think it will be able to clearly reveal how long immunity lasts.
The human infection test is expected to help develop vaccines and treatments, end the current pandemic, and respond to future pandemics by confirming what happens in the human body in the early stages of COVID-19 infection.
The ‘human experiment’ for infectious disease research is not a completely new thing that emerged in the wake of Corona 19.
Human trials have been conducted extensively around the world to determine what symptoms people show when they are infected with a virus or receive medication.
HVIVO, a clinical research company that conducts COVID-19 human infection tests together with Imperial College London, is promoting on its website that “We have completed more than 50 human trials since its establishment in 1989.”
However, there was a lot of controversy about the human infection test for COVID-19.
The biggest reason for concern about the COVID-19 human infection test is the lack of a definitive treatment when a trial participant falls into a serious condition.
In the United States, researchers at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) planned a human infection test last year, but the authorities said it was too dangerous.
The UK government and researchers say there have been no serious safety issues so far.
Although concerns remain about ‘long covid’, a sequelae that appears in organs after being infected with COVID-19, all participants in the experiment are young, aged 18 to 30, and there is evidence that these symptoms disappear within a few months, the researchers emphasized.
“The participants understand that there is a small risk,” said Christopher Chiu, an immunologist who leads the Imperial College London human infection trial.
Dr. Garth Rapeport, a former advisory member of the UK Vaccine Task Force, supported human infection testing, emphasizing that “statistics prove that human testing can be conducted safely, and the (current) pandemic requires special measures”.
Participants in the COVID-19 human infection test receive compensation based on living wages, etc.
One participant said that he would receive a total of £6,000 (about 9.62 million won) as a reward for quarantine for 19 days, additional testing for the next year, and participation in a parallel study.
A novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) vaccine developed by the University of Oxford in England with the British flag. [로이터=연합뉴스 자료사진]
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