PRACTICES: Rapid Antibody Capillary Test In COVID-19 Exposed Staff [COVID-19]
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Preston Rapid Antibody Capillary Test In COVID-19 Exposed Staff (PRACTICES) Study
IRAS ID
284450
Contact name
Mohammed Munavvar
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 4 months, 1 days
Research summary
The novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) causing coronavirus-2019 (COVID-19) infection has rapidly progressed through UK hospitals between March and May 2020. NHS Healthcare workers are significantly exposed to COVID-19 positive patients due to the nature of their work. As a result, an increasing number of the NHS workforce have been infected with COVID-19 either directly through care of patients or through other non-occupational exposures. Staff may have symptoms that require self-isolation, whilst many others may have been asymptomatic. \n\nAntibody testing is a proposed method of determining if a healthcare worker has currently got active COVID-19 or has previously been infected with COVID-19. It is a proposed method of assessing whether someone has developed immunity to the specific virus. We currently do not know how many staff members have truly had, and therefore recovered, from the virus or how many staff members do not display antibodies. \n\nCare of COVID-19 patients is likely to continue over the next few months, therefore evaluating healthcare workers potential immunity is important for ongoing workforce management and for individual knowledge. We hope to use a rapid IgM and IgG anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody finger-prick test (BGI Genomics Ltd.) to demonstrate how many healthcare workers have been infected with COVID-19 and how many have recovered. This will be compared to the gold standard Roche Elecsys® Anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody test taken from peripheral blood sample. We also hope to gather more information about why individuals may have had symptoms, what types of work or work-areas create the highest risk and what this means for future. \n
REC name
East of England - Essex Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
20/EE/0159
Date of REC Opinion
5 Jun 2020
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion