While our medical neighborhood is still quite handling the pandemic today, they’re likewise looking ahead.
” Patient absolutely no, patient one here in Rochester really called us and stated, ‘Can you use me in some way?
Now that patient and others can do something to help.
Dr. Branche and her associate Dr. David Topham who runs URMC’s Department of Microbiology and Immunology are heading up the study which is supported by a $5 million grant from the National Institute for Allergy and Transmittable Illness, led by Dr. Anthony Fauci.
The team is wishing to recruit 100 people in the Rochester location who are COVID-19 positive and follow them for several months.
” We’re interested in understanding how your body’s immune or defense system reacts to an infection over time and specifically how you establish defense versus COVID-19 after you have actually been contaminated,” Branche stated.
We have actually all heard about antibody screening.
” The antibody testing is important because it tells us what the real infection rate has actually been,” Dr. Topham stated.
But it does not inform us whether already having the infection will help an individual long-lasting.
” You can get re-infected with coronaviruses, regular seasonal ones, so it’s possible that you might be protected for a short time after this COVID infection but we don’t know the length of time that lasts, that becomes part of the objective of this study to learn the length of time those protective antibodies last,” he stated.
The research group is also thinking about discovering more about how long an individual sheds the virus, how long she or he is contagious and how COVID-19 transmits, particularly among households in the same family.
And After That, obviously, there’s the larger photo,
” There’s a phenomenon with infection infections called herd immunity and once enough of a population is infected and immune the possibilities that the viruses will spread out is lessened simply since there are less targets for the infection to acquire, so again we need to understand that information,” Dr. Topham said.
The research, he states, has considerable ramifications for the general public health action to COVID-19, vaccine development, and decisions connected to the re-opening of the economy.
To learn more about the study and/or sign-up to take part see: www.covidresearch.urmc.edu or call (585) 273-3990 or email: [email protected]
