Quantifying Viral Load in Respiratory Particles That Are Generated by Children and Adults With COVID-19 Infection

January 31, 2022 updated by: Thomas B. Kinane, M.D, Massachusetts General Hospital

The study will be a prospective cohort design to determine if children generate aerosols that harbor a viral load similar to adults. Prior to beginning enrollment, researchers may recruit up to 10 participants (adults or children who meet inclusion criteria for the main study) to perform a small pilot to optimize our cold chain and laboratory procedures.

The study will include children and adults who are confirmed SARS-CoV-2 positive and aim for a total sample size of at least 10 children and 10 adults.

Hypothesis: As children have a high viral load in the nasopharynx, we hypothesize that children generate aerosols that contain SARS-CoV-2 virus.

Aim: To estimate the viral load in aerosols generated from children with COVID-19 infection, and to compare the viral load contained in aerosols from children with aerosols from adults

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

For children and adults who are admitted to MGH, study staff will perform:

Step 1: A nasal and oral swab will be obtained to establish the nasopharyngeal viral load.

Step 2: Study staff will use the CCI and/or UPAS to collect aerosol samples for viral load. Staff will sample the room aerosol for 30 minutes while the participant does not wear a mask, and then if the participant is interested, staff will sample room aerosol while the participant wears different types of masks. If the participant does not tolerate wearing a surgical mask, or if the providers believe this is contraindicated, researchers will forego this portion of the study procedures. If an accompanying family member chooses to stay in the patient room during testing, they will be provided with an N95 respirator.

Step 3: Staff will ask participants to repeat these steps and provide a sample each day that they are having symptoms of COVID-19. The study may conduct serial sampling, where participants could be asked to provide a sample each day that they are having symptoms of COVID-19 up until discharge, or once symptoms resolve. Once symptoms resolve or the patient is discharged, sampling will be complete.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Anticipated)

30

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Contact Backup

Study Locations

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • ADULT
  • OLDER_ADULT
  • CHILD

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion criteria:

  • SARS-CoV-2 PCR positive in the last fourteen days
  • Symptomatic with typical symptoms of COVID-19, including fever, cough, nasal congestion, rhinorrhea, anosmia, ageusia, shortness of breath, chest pain, fatigue, myalgias, or other atypical symptoms with documentation of that symptom OR
  • Asymptomatic with laboratory confirmation of cycle threshold value < 30.

Exclusion criteria:

  • Chronic respiratory disease or neuromuscular condition associated with severely reduced lung function defined as FEV1 or FVC <50% predicted, or requiring chronic supplemental oxygen or respiratory support
  • On current respiratory support via supplemental oxygen, non-invasive ventilation, or invasive mechanical ventilation

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: BASIC_SCIENCE
  • Allocation: NA
  • Interventional Model: SINGLE_GROUP
  • Masking: NONE

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
EXPERIMENTAL: Arm 1
Aim: To estimate the viral load in aerosols generated from children with COVID-19 infection, and to compare the viral load contained in aerosols from children with aerosols from adults
Device: COVID-19 Aerosol Collection

Step 1: A nasal and oral swab will be obtained to establish the nasopharyngeal viral load.

Step 2: Study staff will use the CCI and/or UPAS to collect aerosol samples for viral load. Staff will sample the room aerosol for 30 minutes while the participant does not wear a mask, and then if the participant is interested, staff will sample room aerosol while the participant wears different types of masks. If the participant does not tolerate wearing a surgical mask, or if the providers believe this is contraindicated, researchers will forego this portion of the study procedures. If an accompanying family member chooses to stay in the patient room during testing, they will be provided with an N95 respirator.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Viral Load in Aerosols generated from COVID-19
Time Frame: 10 days
The viral load in aerosols generated from children with COVID-19 infection, and to compare the viral load contained in aerosols from children with aerosols from adults. Measures will be extracted to assess if the cycle threshold value is high enough in aerosols for virus to be transmitted to others.
10 days

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Massachusetts General Hospital

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Thomas B Kinane, MD, Massachusetts General Hospital

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (ACTUAL)

January 13, 2022

Primary Completion (ANTICIPATED)

March 1, 2022

Study Completion (ANTICIPATED)

May 1, 2022

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

January 13, 2022

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 13, 2022

First Posted (ACTUAL)

January 18, 2022

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (ACTUAL)

February 15, 2022

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 31, 2022

Last Verified

January 1, 2022

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 2020P002886

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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