iImmune researchers participate in the SARS-CoV2 cohort study “TiKoCo19”

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Prof. Dr. Klaus Überla (University Hospital Erlangen, left) and Prof. Dr. Ralf Wagner (University Hospital Regensburg, right) join forces in TiKoCo19 (photo credit: Bayerisches Staatsministerium für Wissenschaft und Kunst)

SARS-CoV2 has been the central global health challenge of the new decade, with nearly 196.000 cases and 9000 deaths recorded in Germany alone. However, since a large proportion of SARS-CoV2 infected patients remain asymptomatic, it must be expected that the factual number of SARS-CoV2 infections in Germany is severely underestimated.

To tackle this issue, FAU researchers under the lead of Prof. Dr. Klaus Überla team up with researchers from Regensburg for the cohort study “prospektive Covid19-Kohorte Tirschenreuth (TiKoCo19)”.

Starting this week, the study aims to assess the prevalence of SARS-CoV2-specific antibodies among 4800 representative inhabitants of the bavarian district Tirschenreuth, which became a national center of infection during the first wave of infections in spring 2020.

The study could yield important insights about both the epidemiological characteristics of the virus as well as the prevalence of immunity in the assessed region.

To learn more, we recommend the official press releases of the University Hospital Erlangen and the FAU (german):