University Seeks Volunteers For 'Hotel Influenza' (fortune.com)

The National Institutes of Health is paying a St. Louis university to study the effectiveness of flu vaccines. An anonymous reader quotes Fortune: The university wants volunteers to live in "hotel influenza," where they'd be either given a vaccine or a placebo, be exposed to the flu, and be quarantined for 10 days in the Extended Stay Research Unit. Compensation for such an experiment is around $3,500 (for time and travel), according to a SLU release... "In a traditional flu study, we vaccinate people and see if their immune systems respond by creating antibodies that fight flu," Dr. Hoff said in a release. "In a human challenge study, we vaccinate people, then deliberately challenge their bodies by exposing them to flu to see if they get sick"...

The 24 volunteers living in the "hotel influenza" would have private rooms and bathrooms, common areas with with chairs and TVs, along with exercise equipment, and catered meals in a dining room. They will be observed, "have blood and lung tests and nose swabs to see if they are infected with flu and shedding the virus." If they come down with the flu, they won't be able to leave until they've tested negative for the virus for two days. Nurses would be available around the clock.
One St. Louis newspaper jokes that it will either be a "sickathon" -- or "an indoor vacation complete with catered meals, TV, internet, a gym and views of the Arch".

Comments

Vitamin D3

[taiwanjohn]

I'd be interested to see what role vitamin D3 plays as well. It would be easy to test serum levels of D3 before and after the trial, and see if there's any correlation in the results.

Re:Vitamin D3

[ledow]

Why?

There are plenty of existing studies on that, and they are only kind-of useful. There's an effect but it's probably not worth worrying about:

https://www.nhs.uk/news/food-a...

(P.S. Thank the UK taxpayer for that information, won't you, as they have NO INCENTIVE to mislead you as regards trying to sell you something).

Re:Kinda lingers

[ShanghaiBill]

So how long after the study has concluded would any flu virus remain viable in the "hotel"

At most they will survive for 24 hours on hard surfaces if the temperature is low and the humidity is high.

They will be viable for a shorter time on soft surfaces, or if the temperature is higher or the humidity lower.

Cold viruses can last longer, up to 7 days.

So what happens if they do leave?

[Paul Johnson]

> If they come down with the flu, they won't be able to leave until they've tested negative for the virus for two days. So what if they decide to leave? Is this merely a civil breach of contract, or is it an indenture? Will they be bought back in chains by men in hazmat suits?

Re:So what happens if they do leave?

[DRJlaw]

> If they come down with the flu, they won't be able to leave until they've tested negative for the virus for two days. So what if they decide to leave? Is this merely a civil breach of contract, or is it an indenture? Will they be bought back in chains by men in hazmat suits?

Well, TFA uses the word Quarantine, so perhaps you should read up on what that means? Even though influenza is naturally occuring and relatively common, it doesn't mean that health authorities are going to want to create and release new sources of infection.

Depending upon how rigorously they construct their protocol, it's cute that you think that a participant would need to be brought back. Most hospitals have a "secure wing" where they can treat people who don't want to be there -- prisoners and people on psychological holds -- and neither simply handcuff people to their beds nor rely upon a pinky-swear. "Deciding to leave" may be more theory than practice.

Hotel Influenca

[Unnamed Chickenheart]

You can cash out the 3.500$ check any time you like,
But you can no leave for ten days (or more)!

Just like my office

[Anonymous Coward]

I mean, this is really no different than my office during the winter. Might as well get paid.

Re:I read this book

[Anonymous Coward]

the evil group that conducted the experiment has run off to a hidden compound in the Amazon, and a secretive multinational paramilitary organization has to hunt them down.

I was imagining that you said "compound at Amazon".

Excercise equipment

[RDW]

The 24 volunteers living in the "hotel influenza" would have private rooms and bathrooms, common areas with with chairs and TVs, along with exercise equipment, and catered meals in a dining room.

All very well if you find yourself in the successfully vaccinated group, but you might not have much interest in excercise, meals or even TV if you get full-blown influenza. The last time I had it, all I needed was the bedroom and the bathroom, and shivering deliriously in front of a fan heater with the central heating turned up to max I would happily have paid $3500 to make it go away.

Extended Stay Enrichment Center?

[Anonymous Coward]

Last time I stayed at an "Extended Stay" Enrichment center I got stuck in suspension for 999999 days, and some fool called Gladys or GladDOS or something ruined everything.

Would not volunteer for testing again.

Re:I signed up

[VeryFluffyBunny]

You probably won't get sick either. I bet they've matched the vaccine with the particular strains of flu they'll expose you to. Pretty much guaranteed to work.

The difficult bit about flu vaccines is predicting which strains will be prevalent and then quickly ramping up production and distribution of those. Some years they get it right and some years they get it wrong, with the predictable consequences.

Almost sounds good

[uvajed_ekil]

Do this somewhere interesting, like on a beach or something, and explicitly allow booze, and I'm in. Vacations are already a crapshoot, so if you give me something resort-like AND pay me for it, I'll take my chances knowing I might get the flu.
On second thought, I could use $3500. Count me in, St. Louis and all, but those catered meals had better include some good local barbecue.