The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
‘Hotel influenza’ to pay ‘guests’ to participate in vaccine research
ST. LOUIS — Plenty of room at the “hotel influenza.” Any time of year, you can catch it here.
Call it a “sickation” — a 10to 12-day hotel stay to help St. Louis University researchers test the effectiveness of flu vaccines. Volunteers will get a flu shot or a placebo, and then they’ll get a dose of a flu virus delivered through a nasal spray.
The participants will be watched around the clock for symptoms of the flu: fever, runny nose, sneezing, cough. Their blood and mucus will be repeatedly tested for signs of the virus, and those who do come down with the flu must test negative for two consecutive days before checking out.
The Extended Stay Research Unit is expected to welcome its first “guests” within the next year. The university spent about $350,000 to convert 24 hotel rooms in its Salus Center, formerly the Water Tower Inn, to a quarantined medical unit. A nursing station and exam room were created out of hotel rooms. Common areas offer reading nooks, couches and game tables for socializing.
The “human challenge” unit is one of only a handful worldwide designed to test vaccines or treatments on people after exposing them to a disease.
By controlling the study environment, “you can learn a lot more, a lot faster” about whether vaccines work to prevent infection, said Dr. Daniel Hoft, director of SLU’s Center for Vaccine Development.
In a typical flu vaccine trial, people are vaccinated and then tested to see if they produce antibodies to fight the virus, regardless of whether they are exposed to it. With the human challenge, the virus makes a direct hit.
“You are not waiting for nature to take its course,” Hoft said.
The search for an effective flu vaccine, and ultimately a universal vaccine that would protect against all strains of the virus, is a critical focus for infectious disease researchers. When the vaccine is ineffective, like in the previous winter, illnesses soar. The 2017-2018 flu season ended as one of the most severe on record, causing about 134,000 infections
and 279 deaths in Missouri alone. The seasonal flu shot was only about 10 percent to 15 percent effective against the circulating strains, Hoft said.
The studies will require U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval and must pass SLU’s internal review process. When considering the ethics of human research, the potential benefits are weighed against the severity of the illness in question and the participants’ understanding of their risk, said Stephanie Solomon Cargill, associate professor of health care ethics at SLU.
“The real question for me ethically is, if you’re not benefiting people, you have to be careful about not harming them too much, and they know what they are getting into and are freely choosing it,” she said. Hoft said the center was designed to meet standards for preventing the spread of tuberculosis, which has more stringent guidelines than the flu. All air is circulated and filtered separately from the rest of the building.
For their trouble and possible sickness, volunteers will be paid about $3,500. If they do need medical care, the costs will be covered.