The WILCO Study - ‘Working out the Immunology of Long Covid’

Aim

Researchers at Imperial College, London are trying to understand why some people make a full recovery after COVID-19 while others go on to develop long-term symptoms. To do this, we are looking for volunteers to help us do research into the immune response following infection.

Volunteer Criteria

We are looking for people aged 16 - 70 years who meet any of the following criteria:

• Never had COVID-19 but have received COVID-19 vaccine doses
• Had COVID-19 and made a full recovery within 4 weeks (and may have since received vaccine doses)
• Had COVID-19 and have since suffered from the long-term symptoms described as Long Covid. These may include fatigue, ‘brain fog’, exhaustion when walking, breathlessness, chest pain and other persistent symptoms.

What will I be asked to do?

Once you contact us and give your consent, we will send you a questionnaire about your experiences recovering from COVID-19. We are looking for people with Long Covid and also for people who made a rapid recovery.

We will analyse the questionnaires to better understand symptom clusters, especially following infections during the different waves.

We will select people with particular symptom profiles and ask if they would come to Hammersmith Hospital for a small blood test. This blood will be used in a wide range of tests to look at immunity and autoimmunity.

Volunteers may be asked for another visit about 6 months later for another blood test.

When and where?

This is currently a study taking place online and, for blood tests, at Hammersmith Hospital, though we are looking into other sites and will update this page accordingly.

Will I get anything for taking part?

All volunteers will be kept informed about the Long Covid study data. We will aim to reimburse travel expenses.

How do I take part?

To express your interest in being involved please click the 'I would like to take part' button or through the WILCO study page here.

Alternatively, you can contact the research team directly to express your interest by contacting: [email protected]