SYDNEY, July 27, 2020 (BSS/Xinhua) – As diabetes emerged as an important factor affecting the severity of COVID-19, Australian researchers hoped recovered COVID-19 patients would provide vital clues about how diabetes impacts COVID-19 response.
The University of Queensland began on Monday to recruit people with or without diabetes and recently recovered from COVID-19 to take part in a study. The research team will collect blood and urine samples from these volunteers and analyse their antibodies against COVID-19.
“This will help us compare how diabetes affect COVID-19 response – we want to know if the disease alters the duration and severity of COVID-19,” said lead researcher, Dr Kirsty Short from the School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences.
“And we’re also hoping to identify future immunity to the virus – SARS-CoV-2 – that causes COVID-19.”
Study collaborator Dr Helen Barrett from Mater Research said public participation was critical in helping identify how long COVID-19 antibodies last in people with or without diabetes.
“As well as discovering how long these antibodies last, we hope that this research will shed some real light on how to help those who already diagnosed with diabetes, to ensure the risk of COVID-19 diagnosis is low in the near future,” Barrett said.
As part of the study, the team will also look at if other underlying conditions such as cardiovascular health can impact the severity of COVID-19.