On May 4, local time, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced a study on the incidence of neonatal pneumonia in children. The goal is to determine the percentage of children with new coronavirus who develop symptoms of new coronary pneumonia. In addition, the study will examine children with asthma or other allergic diseases. Compared with children without these diseases, there is a difference in the rate of new coronavirus infection.
This study is called “Human Epidemiology and Response to New Coronavirus” (HEROS). In response to this research, Anthony Fudge, director of the National Institutes of Health ’s Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and disease control expert, pointed out that the new coronary pneumonia epidemic has an interesting feature. Compared with adults, the number of children suffering from diseases is very small.
“Is it because the children are resistant to the new coronavirus infection? Or is it because they are infected but have no symptoms? The HEROS study will help us begin to answer these and other keys Problem. “
The National Institutes of Health says there is preliminary evidence that suffering from allergic diseases may reduce the risk of new coronavirus infection and severe new coronary pneumonia . In children and adults, allergic respiratory tract and asthma are associated with a significant reduction in the expression of the new coronavirus key receptor ACE2. For this reason, this study will also focus on clarifying whether the reduction in ACE2 expression in airway cells in children with allergic diseases is associated with a low rate of neocoronavirus infection and a low rate of coronary disease.
At present, the recruitment of volunteers for this study has begun, and it is planned to quickly recruit 6,000 of 2,000 families in 11 cities in the United States that have participated in NIH pediatric research Volunteers. The research team will conduct a six-month follow-up survey of these children and their families to determine who is infected with the new coronavirus, whether the virus is transmitted to other family members, and which family members have new coronary pneumonia.
Research will be conducted remotely. Every two weeks, the person in charge of the experimental family will collect nasal swabs of children and all other family members, and then mail the samples to the laboratory for analysis. On the day of collection of the swab, the head of the family needs to complete an online questionnaire. The contents of the questionnaire include each participant’s current symptoms, social distance, recent activities outside the home, and patients recently contacted.
If any family member shows symptoms of a viral disease, the person in charge will fill out another online questionnaire to determine the likelihood of new coronary pneumonia. If it is likely to be new coronary pneumonia, the person in charge will collect nasal swabs of all family members and stool samples of those with symptoms within 24 hours. The study will alsoBlood samples from participants were collected for analysis of new coronavirus antibodies.