ISARIC 4C (International Severe Acute Respiratory Infection Consortium- Coronavirus Clinical Characterisation Consortium) is a UK-wide coalition of doctors, hospital staff and scientists committed to answering urgent questions about COVID-19 quickly, openly and for public benefit. For example:
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What puts people at higher risk of severe COVID-19?
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What is the best way to diagnose the disease?
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Do other respiratory infections affect the severity of COVID-19?
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In some patients, does the immune response do more harm than good?
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Who should be treated with which drugs, and when? Are some drugs harmful?
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How long are people infectious, and how?
ISARIC 4C investigators have been preparing for a respiratory pandemic for over 8 years. This period of preparation enabled the immediate launch of a WHO-approved Clinical Characterisation Protocol (CCP) that was developed in the aftermath of the 2009-10 influenza pandemic. With these plans in place, ISARIC 4C investigators recruited from the very start of the COVID-19 pandemic and has been collecting data and samples ever since.
As of 26 October, ISARIC 4C have recruited 87,729 cases and have biological sampling on over 2,500 of them and has already produced many results.
Professor Peter Openshaw, Professor of Experimental Medicine at Imperial College London, is Co-Chair of UK-CIC, a co-lead on ISARIC 4C and leads on their immunology work-stream. ISARIC 4C is a key partner of UK-CIC.