Coronavirus STORY (Serum Testing of Representative Youngsters)

跟踪像新型冠状病毒(新冠肺炎)这样的新病毒传播的一个重要方法是研究普通人群对这种病毒的血源性免疫力。在疫情爆发之初测量这一指标可以确定人口中已经有多大比例(如果有的话)拥有免疫力，而持续监测这一比例的增加可以显示有多少人受到新感染。这对儿童尤其重要，他们经常是呼吸道感染传播给其他人的罪魁祸首。因此，英国公共卫生组织计划在新冠肺炎疫情爆发期间每月研究400名儿童和青少年中针对新冠肺炎的抗体(免疫标志物)的浓度。

An important way of tracking the spread of a new viruses like the novel coronavirus(COVID-19) is to study the blood-born immunity against that virus in the generalpopulation.Measuring this at the beginning of an outbreak can determine what proportion (if any) ofthe population already have immunity, and ongoing monitoring for any increase in thisproportion can show how many people are getting new infections.This is especially important for children, who are often responsible for spreadingrespiratory infections to others.Accordingly, Public Health England plan to study the concentrations of antibodies (amarker of immunity) against COVID-19 in 400 children and teenagers per month for theduration of the COVID-19 outbreak.