The "Big Brother" of the flu

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Source: http: // www.bbc.co.uk/world/news/201 ... o_np.shtml
The Big Brother of the Flu

Being locked in a clinical unit for a season and exposed to the flu virus is probably not the idea of ​​the best vacations that one can imagine.

But 41 volunteers have just done that exactly in a medical version of the Big Brother television program, in which the contestants coexist in a house under the constant surveillance of the cameras, to help find more about how the flu is transmitted among the people among the people.

"It is extraordinary that it has not been done before," says Jonathan Van-Tam, professor at the School of Community Health Sciences at Nottingham University in the United Kingdom.

Van-tam leads this test, which is part of a study that costs around US $ 11 million.

"To put it crudely, we are interested in knowing if they are the greatest parts of what one expels when coughing or sneezing-we call them 'big droplets' or the smallest, which we refer to as aerosols," Van-Tamto the BBC.

"The only way we had to do this was to put people with real flu in a situation in which they could infect others and we could study how that happens."

The scientist says that the results will serve for governments and institutions such as the World Health Organization (WHO) to decide how to protect health workers during flu shoots.

four days together

The volunteers entered the clinical unit in early March and passed a series of tests.Then, 21 of them, called donors, were chosen to be infected with a common and seasonal strain of influenza, called A (H3N2).

Another 11 participants, called receptors, received facial shields capable of stopping large drops, but not aerosols, and gel of hands to prevent contact infection.

Another 10 receivers did not receive any type of protection.

Research team members used respirators and protection to avoid infection.

Groups of infected and receivers donors had to spend 15 hours a day together, for four days.The rooms were maintained at a temperature of 20ºC and were constantly supervised.

During the night, donors and receptors slept separately.Receptors with flu symptoms also separated from others.

"A group of receptors could only be infected through aerosols, while others could be infected by contact, aerosols or the largest drops. Now we can compare the two groups and get an idea of ​​how important the transmission by aerosol is,"Van-tam says.

The volunteers, who had to be in good health and be between 18 and 45 years, paid more than US $ 15,000.
One of them, a 31 -year -old bomber named Chloé, told the BBC that the experience had been "like Big Brother during the four days in the exposure period in the common room, because you knew they were looking at you all the time".

prohibitions

"If you wanted to go to the bathroom, someone accompanied you from the team to bring exact control of who has had contact with who," Chloé said.

Alcohol, cigarette and intense exercise were prohibited to prevent the results from being affected.
Cholé said they spent time chatting, reading, watching movies and TV.And that, unlike the true Big Brother, here everyone got along

"During the four days I had to carry the facial shield, which is like a welder maskthin and plastic.It is very light and quite comfortable.But after a while I wanted to take it off. "
They allowed them to take off their masks to eat and sleep.

"Every 15 minutes we had to spread our hands with gel and every two hours we had to wash them meticulously."
"We couldn't touch our face. So if we felt a itching we had to use a small stick," says Chloé.

factors

According to Ron Eccles, a specialist at the University of Cardiff, in Wales, flu transmission is an important but difficult area of ​​study.
The results, Eccles believes, must be interpreted very carefully and the type of virus and the environment are important factors.

"People infected with a laboratory can respond differently to those who infect the real world. Symptoms can be worse in the real world and people's behavior can be different," says Eccles.

For its part, Van-tam says that two more tests will be carried out in the coming months.The three experiments are funded by the United States government in collaboration with British, American, Australian and Canadians.

According to the researcher, the results will be applicable to swine flu and avian in humans, and will be useful to decide whether health workers should use masks or respirators when they serve infected patients.

"The difference goes from cents for a mask to dollars for a respirator," Van-tam added.

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