Influenza Human Challenge Study Begins at NIAID-Sponsored Clinical Trial Units

A clinical trial in which healthy adults will be deliberately infected with influenza virus under carefully controlled conditions is recruiting volunteers at four Vaccine and Treatment Evaluation Units supported by NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). The first five volunteers were administered doses of the challenge flu virus earlier this week.

One study aim is to assess how levels of pre-existing influenza antibodies impact the timing, magnitude and duration of a volunteer’s flu symptoms following exposure to the challenge virus strain, which was developed at NIAID.