The SEROCoV-Schools study wins the Prix Médecine et Société
The Department of Community Health and Medicine at the University of Geneva has awarded this year's Medicine and Society Prize to the study entitled " Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 infections in primary schools and crèches in the canton of Geneva: an epidemiological, virological and serological study (SEROCoV-Schools) ", presented by Dr Elsa Lorthe, Pre Silvia Stringhini, Pre Isabella Eckerle, Mathilde Bellon and Dr Julie Berthelot.
The Prix Médecine et Société aims to encourage initiatives that have a societal impact on the Geneva university hospital community. Professor Samia Hurst, a bioethicist and doctor, and the other members of the jury were unable to decide between two projects, which were described as "quite remarkable", awarding the prize to Victor Taramarcaz and Tara Herren's project " Motivating first-year medical students at Unige to become first responders ".
As a reminder, the SEROCoV-Schools project was launched in the summer of 2020 with the aim of describing the transmission dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 in primary schools and nurseries and assessing the risk of introducing the virus into children's homes. The study was carried out between March 2021 and June 2022 in two schools and three crèches in the canton of Geneva, involving 24 classes of children aged between 1-2 and 6-7 years, accompanied by their educational teams and teaching staff. A total of 400 people took part in the SEROCoV-Schools project during the COVID-19 pandemic.
By combining epidemiological, virological and serological data, the study demonstrated the rapid spread of infections in schools (transmission from child to child and from child to adult), and the introduction of the virus into homes (including vaccinated parents), more markedly with each new variant. The study concluded that young children appear to be a major source of extra-familial infections and play a key role in community transmission. They constitute a potential reservoir of the disease now that the majority of the adult and adolescent population has been vaccinated.
- A scientific and societal impact recognised at local, national and international level
The SEROCoV-Schools team played a key role in supporting and informing schools and families during a stressful period marked by changing policies and measures that were sometimes difficult to follow and understand. In schools, the study was also a means of passing on scientific knowledge to children, particularly about tests, infection by the virus and the development of antibodies, using illustrations created for the occasion, and by answering their many questions during visits. The team also conveyed the idea that science and research could be fun (clowns led the inclusion visits) and carried out by women, since the team in the field was exclusively female.
This interdisciplinary research project is the fruit of close collaboration between the Population Epidemiology Unit of the Primary Care Medicine Department of Geneva University Hospitals, the Emerging Viruses Laboratory of the University of Geneva, the Laboratory for the Characterisation of Biological Networks of the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, the young participants, their parents and the staff of several Geneva schools.
The results have received international recognition, thanks to several publications, including one in the Lancet Infectious Diseases.
