WASHINGTON — Duke University researchers are developing a test to determine — with a mere drop of blood — who will get sick before the sniffling and fever set in. And they’re turning to hundreds of dorm-dwelling freshmen this fall to see whether it works.
It’s a novel experiment: Students report daily whether they have cold or flu symptoms. If they do, a team swoops in to test not just the sneezer but, more important, seemingly healthy friends and hallmates who might be incubating the infection.
“We’re redefining the definition of being ill,” said Col. Geoffrey Ling, a physician with the Defense Research Projects Agency, the Defense Department’s research arm, which came up with the idea.
The reason: The military faces huge problems when flu or other viruses sweep through barracks, and knowing an outbreak was brewing could allow them to separate and protect those not infected.
The research is based on a simple principle: Your immune system revs up to fight infection long before you show symptoms or before today’s tests could detect the actual virus in your body. The Duke team discovered a so-called genomic fingerprint, a pattern of subtle molecular changes as genes are activated to fight viral respiratory infections.
If the study pans out, Ling hopes to seek Food and Drug Administration approval for a pre-symptom test within two years, aimed at crowded quarters such as the military, colleges, nursing homes, even hospital intensive-care units.
Meanwhile, studies of the swine-flu vaccine show children 10 and older will need just one shot for protection — but younger kids almost certainly will need two.
Protection kicks in for older children within eight to 10 days of the shot, just like it does for adults, the National Institutes of Health announced Monday.
But younger children aren’t having nearly as robust an immune reaction to the swine flu vaccine, and it appears they will need two shots 21 days apart, said Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease.
