What weapons does the immune system have against the new corona virus? How sharp are they and how long lasting? A study at the Anker Center in Geldersheim will provide the answers.
The first volunteers are standing at 2 p.m. in front of the medical ambulance in the Lower Franconian Anchor Center near Geldersheim (district of Schweinfurt). Little by little, more and more people are gathering. They want to donate their blood to an antibody study on the Sars-CoV-2 virus, which the University Hospital Fulda started in cooperation with the St. Josef Hospital in Schweinfurt on Friday in the refugee accommodation.
Photo: Anand Anders
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How many of the 580 residents have already been infected with the corona virus and have formed antibodies? How effective are these antibodies? How long do you stay active? The Fulda scientists and Schweinfurt doctors hope to find answers to these questions. The anchor center is a valuable research object because the study is carried out with a group of people who live together in a confined space and who have not been able to move freely in the past few weeks. The anchor center has been quarantined for almost nine weeks since the end of March, when the first of 139 coronavirus infections to date had become known. The risk of infection in the facility was therefore very high.
Photo: Anand Anders
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“It’s an ideal situation for us,” says Professor Dr. Peter M. Kern, immunologist at the Fulda University Hospital and scientific director of this antibody study. Because in humans in a closed observation system one can study the reaction of the immune system to the coronavirus, which is transmitted from human to human and needs a corresponding contact, much better than with a free moving population.
The results of the study also go to the Robert Koch Institute
The first blood samples were taken from the employees of the anchor facility on Thursday. More than half of the 220 employees were already present. Participation in the study is voluntary, also for the residents. Dr. Özlem Anvari, the head of the medical outpatient department, takes the blood from the test subjects together with two other doctors from Josef Hospital and six medical assistants.
Photo: Anand Anders
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It’s just a little prick, but it’s scientifically important. So far there is very little data and hardly any published studies on CoV-2 antibody prevalence, i.e. how many people in a population group have gone through the infection. “With this investigation, we can now generate answers at an early stage,” Kern is certain. The study is listed at the Robert Koch Institute and the results are published. “We do that for all of humanity.”
Photo: Anand Anders
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The study uses two different test methods: the rapid test with the capillary blood from the finger and the conventional blood test via the vein. The results are compared so that testing may be faster in the future. For a young Somali woman, neither of the two methods works. Your hands are too cold, there is no blood. It only works on the third attempt.
The ampoule and capillary blood test card are given a number so that they can be examined anonymously in the laboratory in Fulda. Only the anchor ambulance’s doctors have access to the donor’s name.
Photo: Anand Anders
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The collaboration with the Fulda University Hospital came about through private contacts of Dr. Anvari. “We had the idea of carrying out an antibody study in the anchor center for a long time because we suspected a relatively high number of unreported infections.” The anchor center had been tested very broadly from the start. “20 percent of our tests were positive, but three quarters of these people had no symptoms at all.” This led the doctor to conclude that a relevant proportion of infections was not discovered at all because those affected had not noticed the disease.
Photo: Anand Anders
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With the government of Lower Franconia, the operator of the anchor center, the doctor came across with her project open ears. The state government in Munich then gave the green light for the study. The project is financed by the Congregation of the Redeemer Sisters Würzburg, who manage the organization on site through their St. Josef Hospital in Schweinfurt, the University Hospital Fulda, which carries out the scientific studies, and the company Euroimmun, which provides the test material.
We want to find out how sharp the weapons of our immune system are.
Professor Peter M. Kern, scientific director of the antibody study–
“We have the wonderful situation here that we can do a study that benefits three different levels,” says Kern. First, those directly affected who know from the examination whether they have antibodies in them. If the anchor device were to be quarantined again, these persons would be excluded. The results for planning and logistics are also important for the management of the anchor center. “And thirdly, we all benefit from it because we still cannot tell whether we have 200,000 or two million or four million people who are still infected in Germany.”
Photo: Anand Anders
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With the study, the scientist hopes above all to gain insights into the development and quality of the “immune response” to the coronavirus. “We want to find out what our immune system’s weapons look like, how sharp they are and how long-lasting.” The observation of such a group of people helps the whole society – worldwide.
The Fulda Clinic wants to present the first results in just a few days. Kern can then make statements about the quality of the antibodies in two to three weeks. In four to five weeks he would like to ask the residents for a second blood test in order to be able to investigate the long-term effects of the “Corona weapons”.
To person
Photo: Fulda Clinic
–Professor Dr. Peter Kern was born in Nuremberg, studied medicine in Erlangen, completed his specialist training as an internist and rheumatologist as well as his immunological specialization and habilitated in internal medicine. In 2000 he took over the management of the Franz von Prümmer Clinic in Bad Brückenau and built up rheumatology there. Since 2010 he has headed the Medical Clinic IV at the Fulda Clinic, which has been part of Marburg University Medicine since 2016. He has also held an extraordinary professorship at the University of Marburg since 2010, where he teaches clinical immunology and rheumatology.-
Source: Fulda Clinic
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