NIH’s ‘National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute’ launched the REDS-IV-P program. This program is conducting the RESPONSE study (REDS-IV-P Epidemiology, Surveillance, and Preparedness of the Novel SARS-CoV-2 Epidemic) which aims to:
- Establish the incidence of SARS-CoV-2 RNAemia in blood donations from Bloodworks Northwest (BWNW), New York Blood Center (NYBC), Vitalant San Francisco Bay Area, and the American Red Cross (ARC) regions in Los Angeles, Boston, and Minneapolis metropolitan areas, monthly for 6 months
- Conduct serosurveys to study antibody reactivity in same six areas as above monthly for 6 months
- Evaluate assays that could potentially be used to screen the blood supply for SARS-CoV-2 RNA and antibodies
- Document rates of Post Donation Information (PDI) reports to determine PDI rates relevant to SARS-CoV-2 clinical disease and test index donation plasma from PDI donors for SARS-CoV-2 RNA
- Collect information on lookback studies in recipients of blood products from PDI donors found to have RNA in their index donation plasma
- Enroll SARS-CoV-2 positive subjects into a longitudinal cohort study to answer fundamental questions on the evolution of viremia, early immune responses and waning of immunity over one year of follow-up and
- Establish a sharable biorepository of samples from all of the above aims for future research
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