UMass Chan partnering with Moderna to research disease transmission in children
Photo | Grant Welker
UMass Chan Medical School in Worcester
UMass Chan Medical School has entered into a research collaboration with Moderna on a study of cytomegalovirus transmission in group childcare, education, and household settings.
Although most people experience mild or no symptoms from an initial CMV infection, young children can shed the virus for months or years, according to a release from UMass Chan. Diseases that can be caused by CMV include pneumonia and mononucleosis.
CMV is also capable of spreading from pregnant women to unborn children, and it is the most common infectious cause of birth defects in the world, according to the organization.
"Current strategies for effective prevention or treatment of CMV are extremely limited. We hope that this study will generate new evidence to help us understand how the immune systems of young children and adults control and reduce the spread of CMV, which could guide the design of a vaccine to generate those effective immune responses," Dr. Laura Gibson an adult and pediatric infectious disease specialist at UMass Chan, who will be leading the study, said in the release.
The study is planned to take place at public and private daycares in Cambridge and Worcester.
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