North West COVID-19 Outbreak Immunity Study

Collaborative research

Understanding the persistence of immunity following COVID-19 infection

August, 2021

Tasmanians will recall the COVID-19 outbreak in the north west of the state in March and April of 2020 which occurred predominantly at the North West Regional Hospital at Burnie, but also included the North West Private Hospital and the Mersey Community Hospital. A total of 138 cases were recorded comprising of 80 staff, 25 patients and 33 others, including household contacts of staff.

Whilst the outbreak will be remembered as a public health emergency, many of the NW healthcare workers who contracted COVID-19 during the outbreak have volunteered to participate in a worldwide collaborative research study which is aiming to contribute to developing understand the persistence of immunity following COVID-19 infection, including the long-term effects of COVID-19 (long COVID), on the immune system. The study focuses on the cell mediated immune response, rather than antibodies, which are thought to be crucial for long term protection and control of severe disease.

They may also contribute to the symptoms in long COVID. The results aim to contribute to the design of vaccines which induce long-lasting protective immunity and treatment strategies to overcome the symptoms of long COVID.

Being undertaken in Tasmania by the Head of Infectious Diseases at the Launceston General Hospital, Professor Katie Flanagan (pictured), the study involves the collection of blood samples from the NW outbreak, in addition to samples collected from COVID-19 patients in Melbourne and the United Kingdom.

Long COVID impacts some people who have contracted COVID-19 whereby they continue to experience a range of symptoms for longer than usual after initially contracting the virus. The ongoing symptoms include a cough, breathlessness, headaches, and fatigue, but it can also affect many other parts of the body, including the heart, brain, and gut.

The mechanisms of long COVID are yet to be elucidated but, in addition to long term effects on cell mediated immunity, COVID-19 may also modify DNA the epigenome leading to chronic persistent changes in gene expression. This has been shown to occur for several viruses , but has not yet been explored for SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19). This study proposes to investigate this question.

The study population includes NW healthcare workers who developed COVID-19 in 2020 as well as a number of uninfected volunteers. It will explore the effects of COVID-19 at approximately 6 months and 1 year after acquiring the infection.