When volunteers deliberately got infected with COVID, this is what scientists found

Scientists at Open Orphan (ORPH.L) have published results from the “world’s first” trial in which volunteers were deliberately exposed to COVID.

The study was launched in February, in partnership with Imperial College London, UK’s vaccines task force, and Orphan’s clinical company,  hVIVO.

According to a report published on Tuesday, the trials were found to be safe in healthy young adults, and provided “detailed insights into the course of COVID-19 infection with potential positive public health implications”.

The trials involved 36 “young and healthy” volunteers aged between 18 and 29, who were given identical doses of the original strain of the virus.

Of those given the doses, only 18 became infected.

According to the report, the virus took off rapidly in those that developed an infection, with the positive test results appearing within 42 hours.

The researchers noted that the virus got a foothold first in the throat, but the levels were highest once it reached the nose.

“This underlines the importance of proper facemask use to cover both the mouth and nose,” the report reads.

Mild-to-moderate cold like symptoms were reported by 16 of 18 infected volunteers from two days post-inoculation, including a stuffy or runny nose, sneezing, and a sore throat with some experiencing headaches, muscle aches, tiredness and fever.

A loss of sense of smell was also said to have occurred in 13 of the infected volunteers.

“To test the performance of lateral flow assay (LFA) over the entire course of infection, antigen testing was performed using the same morning nose and throat swab samples assessed for viral load (VL). None of the uninfected participants had a positive LFA test at any time, whereas all infected individuals had positive LFA for ≥2 days,” the report reads.

Mariya Kalinova, principal investigator on the study and medical director of hVIVO, said closely observing and examining COVID infection disease progression in volunteers has revealed important insights which will benefit public health going forward.

“Results uncovered new insights into the average incubation period for COVID-19 infection as well as disparities in viral loads between the nose and mouth, which endorses proper mask wearing guidance. Most importantly, there were no serious or adverse events, which proves a SARS-CoV-2 challenge is safe and well tolerated,” Kalinova said.

The researchers said they now plan to start a similar study using the Delta variant, and will share their framework around the globe to allow similar research.