New UK ‘Challenge Trial’ Studies If People Can Catch Coronavirus Again

New UK ‘Challenge Trial’ Studies If People Can Catch Coronavirus Again
A 3D-printed CCP virus model is seen in front of a British flag on display in this illustration taken March 25, 2020. Dado Ruvic/Illustration/Reuters
|Updated:

LONDON—British scientists on Monday launched a trial which will deliberately expose participants who have already had COVID-19 to the coronavirus again to examine immune responses and see how many get reinfected.

In February, Britain became the first country in the world to give the go-ahead for so-called “challenge trials” in humans, in which volunteers are deliberately exposed to COVID-19 to advance research into the disease caused by the coronavirus.