It’s described as a first of its kind in Canada. A group of participants at the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) will intentionally expose themselves to influenza. It’s called controlled human infection model, and the goal is to learn more about the flu and improve vaccine research. “We will be intensively studying these individuals, testing them every day, and doing nasal swabs, blood tests,” said Doctor Brian Ward, an infectious disease microbiologist. “Doing very detailed studies of the way their bodies respond to the infectious challenge.” While patients are exposed to the flu, they will spend approximately a week at the MUHC. Participants are healthy adults under the age of 40. This research is considered cutting edge science and made possible using negative pressure rooms. “These rooms were specifically built as infectious disease isolation pods,” Ward said. “The air from this room is filtered and sent outside […] Very few places in the world can do these kind of studies, because they don’t have a set up of this negative pressure room.” Researchers will monitor how the flu progresses and how the body reacts to better understand influenza. “The primary purpose of these studies will be to look at how human immune system fights the infection,” said Zoulfia Allakhverdieva, a PhD immunologist. There is a potential long-term benefit to the controlled human infection model. Vaccine development can be sped up and that’s crucial if there’s another pandemic. “We could make a better vaccine very quickly. [In a] matter of months as opposed to a year,” Ward said. “That’s really essential, given what we just experienced with Covid,” Lydia Labrie, a clinical research manager, said. “This kind of research is really important so that we’re not rushing to create a vaccine when the pandemic is already underway. We can kind of get ahead of it.” This research is also being conducted in Halifax. In total, 32 participants will take part.
