Avon CAP: A Pan-Pandemic Respiratory Infection Surveillance Study [COVID-19]
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Avon Community Acquired Pneumonia Study (Avon CAP): A Pan-Pandemic Acute Lower Respiratory Tract Disease Surveillance Study
IRAS ID
283899
Contact name
Adam Finn
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Bristol
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 5 months, 31 days
Research summary
Acute respiratory infection affects large numbers of people worldwide. Older people have higher disease incidence, suffering reduced quality of life and increased mortality. Previous studies defining the burden of adult respiratory infection are limited - they required either an identified cause (microbiological diagnosis) or Chest-Xray change (radiological diagnosis). This results in underestimates of adult disease because some cases aren’t counted. \n\nIn 2019, SARS-CoV-2 virus (coronavirus or COVID-19) emerged causing a worldwide pandemic. This is a new human pathogen, and there is no pre-existing immunity. We do not understand fully how this virus causes disease, nor the risk-factors for poor outcomes (including death). We also don’t know how this virus interacts with other bacteria and viruses that cause human disease. This is important - if we can determine how these infections interact with each other and the consequences for affected individuals, we may be able to offer better vaccination strategies (disease prevention) and/or treatments. Other infections important in adult respiratory disease are pneumococcus and RSV (a cold virus). There are new vaccines available for adult use, but as we don’t know the true disease burden of these infections, we cannot determine if using these vaccines in adults would be worthwhile. \n\nParticipating hospitals will capture key data on all patients admitted with respiratory illness that are generated by clinical teams treating these patients (including demographics, co-morbidities, outcomes and results of investigations undertaken by medical teams). \n\nPatients will be invited to participate in the consented study involving additional testing for pneumococcal and RSV infection. This will identify more cases of these infections than routine testing. These data will help to accurately define the true amount of disease caused by respiratory illness, determine the subgroups of disease and the impact of COVID-19 on respiratory disease.
REC name
East of England - Essex Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
20/EE/0157
Date of REC Opinion
4 Jun 2020
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion