Experimental Human Pneumococcal Challenge - Serotype 6B in Older Adult
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Experimental Human Pneumococcal Challenge - Serotype 6B in Older Adults
IRAS ID
340045
Contact name
Ruth Van Zalinge
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 4 months, 1 days
Research summary
The germ ‘pneumococcus’ (Streptococcus pneumoniae, a bacteria) is a major cause of pneumonia, meningitis and sepsis around the world leading to over a million deaths per year. The biggest impact is on young children and older adults, especially in low-income countries. However, most of the information that we have about how the body responds to this infection comes from younger adults. These younger adults are less likely to develop severe infection and how they respond to bugs is different to how older adults respond. In this study, we will look at how pneumococcus lives in the noses of older adults and causes infection. The aim is to better understand how this bug affects older people, which will hopefully help us design medication and vaccinations better for this age group.
Over the past decade, our group has developed innovative methods to study pneumococcus infection in healthy volunteers. People are carefully screened for safety and then infected (“challenged”) with small amounts of bacteria in their nose, which allows us to understand why some people who are exposed to the bacteria develop infection whilst others don’t. This kind of study (a “human challenge” study) can improve understanding about how bugs cause disease and is a cost-efficient way of designing and testing drugs and vaccinations. To date we have challenged over 2000 participants with pneumococcus, including older people, and demonstrated these studies can be done safely without harm to participants. In this study, older adults will be given pneumococcus in their nose so we can run tests to see how the bug affects them and sticks to their nose. We will take samples throughout the study so that we can understand how the immune system responds to it.
Safety will be paramount in this study. Participants will have access to a study doctor 24/7 and be given back-up antibiotics to take if needed.
REC name
East of England - Cambridge South Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
24/EE/0038
Date of REC Opinion
29 Feb 2024
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion