Reducing Respiratory Virus Transmission in Bangladeshi Classrooms

Trial statusNot yet recruiting
Trial phaseNot applicable
Trial typeInterventional
Biological sexAll
Age9-12
SponsorStanford University

About this trial

This study will test if affordable air cleaning devices (box fans with a filter attached and/or ultraviolet light lamps) installed in classrooms can reduce the number of viral respiratory illnesses schoolchildren experience.

Eligibility criteria

This trial accepts healthy volunteers

Qualifiers

Schoolchildren of Bangladesh Government-run primary schools in Dhaka, Bangladesh ages 9 - 12 years, of all gender identifiers (male, female, transgender, prefer not to designate), without specific ethnic selection amongst standard school children of Bangladesh government schools in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Disqualifiers

School children of non-Bangladesh Government-run primary schools and/or schoolchildren who do not attend a Bangladesh Government-run primary school in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

School children who are not able to or have a contraindication with the ability to comply with study procedures.

Trial design

Design model

Parallel

Treatments tested in this trial

  • Box Fan

    Device

    Classrooms assigned to this arm will be equipped with 2 - 8 box fans each with a single minimum efficiency reporting value-14 (MERV-14) filter sufficient to increase effective air changes per hour to 12 based on the clean air delivery rate measured in cubic feet per minute of the box fan + filter \* 60 divided by the room volume.

  • UV Germicidal Irradiation Lamp Unit

    Device

    Classrooms assigned to this arm will be equipped with one or two 222nm wavelength light ultraviolet germicidal irradiation lamp units (number of units per classroom based on room volume).

  • Combined: Box Fan and UV Germicidal Irradiation Lamp Units

    Device

    Classrooms assigned to this arm will be equipped with both box fans and UV germicidal irradiation lamp units.

Treatment groups

20,000 Participants
are divided into 4 treatment groups
Group A: Box FanExperimental treatment 1 intervention
Group B: UV Germicidal Irradiation Lamp UnitExperimental treatment 1 intervention
Group C: Combined: Box Fan and UV Germicidal Irradiation Lamp UnitsExperimental treatment 1 intervention
Group D: Non-Interventional ControlNo intervention 0 interventions

Trial outcomes

Primary outcomes

1

Total number of symptomatic respiratory illness episodes due to either Influenza or SARS- CoV-2

Study personnel will visit each school twice weekly. They will identify any students within the study classrooms who were absent or who have symptoms consistent with the World Health Organization (WHO) definition of influenza like illness. For children who were absent or who have symptoms, study personnel will visit the child's home, and if the student's parent provides informed consent, collect more detailed information on signs and symptoms, and a throat swab from the child. The throat swab will be placed on viral transport media, placed on ice and transported to the One Health Laboratory at the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b). One aliquot from the specimen will be analyzed for Influenza A, Influenza B, and SARS-CoV-2. In the laboratory, nucleic acid in the throat swab specimen will be extracted and one-step real-time (RT)-PCR conducted to assess the presence of RNA from Influenza A, Influenza B or SARS-CoV-2.

Time frame
Over 40 weeks of observation

Secondary outcomes

1

Total number of symptomatic influenza-like illness episodes

Study personnel will visit each school twice weekly. They will identify any students within the study classrooms who were absent or who have symptoms consistent with the WHO definition of influenza like illness.

Time frame
Over 40 weeks of observation
2

Total number of symptomatic influenza episodes

Study personnel will visit each school twice weekly. They will identify any students within the study classrooms who were absent or who have symptoms consistent with the WHO definition of influenza like illness. For children who were absent or who have symptoms, study personnel will visit the child's home, and if the student's parent provides informed consent, collect more detailed information on signs and symptoms, and a throat swab from the child. The throat swab will be placed on viral transport media, placed on ice and transported to the One Health Laboratory at icddr,b. One aliquot from the specimen will be analyzed for Influenza A or Influenza B. In the laboratory, nucleic acid in the throat swab specimen will be extracted and one-step real-time RT-PCR conducted to assess the presence of RNA from Influenza A or Influenza B.

Time frame
Over 40 weeks of observation
3

Total number of symptomatic SARS-CoV2 episodes

Study personnel will visit each school twice weekly. They will identify any students within the study classrooms who were absent or who have symptoms consistent with the WHO definition of influenza like illness. For children who were absent or who have symptoms, study personnel will visit the child's home, and if the student's parent provides informed consent, collect more detailed information on signs and symptoms, and a throat swab from the child. The throat swab will be placed on viral transport media, placed on ice and transported to the One Health Laboratory at icddr,b. One aliquot from the specimen will be analyzed for SARS-CoV2. In the laboratory, nucleic acid in the throat swab specimen will be extracted and one-step real-time RT-PCR conducted to assess the presence of RNA from SARS-CoV2.

Time frame
Over 40 weeks of observation
4

Total number of student absentee episodes

Study personnel will visit each school twice weekly. They will identify any students within the study classrooms who were absent.

Time frame
Over 40 weeks of observation

Other outcomes

Locations

This trial has no locations.

Sponsors and contacts

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Stanford University

Lead sponsor

International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh

Collaborator

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