Institute of Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine
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Together against COVID: Prospective COVID-19 Cohort Munich (KoCo19)

In April 2020, the Tropical Institute at LMU Klinikum München, Helmholtz Munich and partners launched the antibody study "Prospective COVID-19 Cohort Munich" (KoCo19), a sample analysis of the spread of the coronavirus pandemic and the effectiveness of countermeasures. The study was funded by the Bavarian state government.

The medical study teams visited around 3,000 representatively selected households in the Munich area at various intervals to take a blood sample from the study participants, examine their infection status and collect further health information. The study was supported by numerous project partners, including the Munich police. The police officers accompanied the study teams during the initial contact with the randomly selected households to verify that this was an official research project.

In later study rounds, blood samples were primarily taken independently by the participants themselves using a "do-it-yourself" blood collection kit (so-called finger prick tests, see YouTube video by the Tropical Institute/LMU Klinikum).

Project partners

Project team:

Head: Tropical Institute, LMU Klinikum München (Department of Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine)

Project partner:

  • Helmholtz Munich
  • Center for International Health, LMU Klinikum
  • Institute for Occupational, Social and Environmental Medicine, LMU Hospital
  • Institute for Emergency Medicine and Medical Management (INM), LMU Hospital
  • Laboratory for Microbiology of the German Armed Forces
  • University of Bielefeld
  • University of Bonn
  • Bavarian State Office for Health and Food Safety (LGL)


Project cooperations:

  • The research project includes accompanying studies carried out in cooperation with the Becker & Kollegen laboratory and the blood donation service of the Bavarian Red Cross (BRK).
  • We would like to thank the Munich police for their kind support.
  • Our thanks also go to:
  • Accenture, who developed the KoCo19 questionnaire app for us pro bono.
  • Munich Surgical Imaging GmbH for their support in the areas of video production and online events.
  • The BMW Group, which provided us with vehicles for the project free of charge as part of the "BMW hilft Helfenden" campaign.
  • Mercedes-Benz Munich, who support us with the project infrastructure through their car rental company Mercedes-Benz Rent.
  • The IT Infrastructure Department at the LMU Hospital Munich and the team from Cisco Systems.
  • Prof. Katja Radon and Julia Waibel for creating the KoCo19 explanatory video.
  • The photo and graphics departments as well as the press offices at LMU Klinikum München, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München and Helmholtz Zentrum München.
  • Euroimmun, Roche, Mikrogen and Viramed provided kits and equipment for analyses at discounted rates.

Financing

The project is funded by the Bavarian State Ministry of Science and the Arts, LMU Klinikum München, Helmholtz Munich and the University of Bonn and the University of Bielefeld.

The results of the study are regularly discussed in an advisory committee consisting of the Bavarian State Ministry of Science and the Arts, the Bavarian State Ministry of Health and Care, the Department of Health and the Environment of the City of Munich, the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and Helmholtz Munich.

The project is also funded by the pan-European consortium ORCHESTRA. The ORCHESTRA project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No 101016167. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

Contact for participants

KoCo19-Studien-Hotline

089 4400-59866

Telephone hotline times:

Monday: 1 - 2 p.m.

About the study

Study results

Topics

Capillary blood samples through a finger prick are a suitable method to determine SARS-CoV-2 antibodies(10.1016/j.ebiom.2021.103502).

The performance of various SARS-CoV-2 antibody tests could be determined(10.1099/jgv.0.001653).

SARS-CoV-2 infections trigger a specific and at least medium-term resilient immune response(10.3389/fimmu.2021.688436).

The behavior of SARS-CoV-2 infections between the 1st and 2nd waves were determined and tracked(10.1186/s12879-021-06589-4, 10.3390/ijerph18073572).

The determination of surface antibodies of the SARS-CoV-2 virus can serve as a useful measurement of part of the immune response and thus as a way to individually assess immune protection(10.1007/s40121-021-00475-x).

We also tracked the SARS-CoV-2 circulation in Munich's wastewater system and thus established an early warning system for the emergence of new SARS-CoV-2 variants(10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.149031).

Original publications (selection)

Head-to-Head Comparison of Two Quantitative S1 Assays in Pre-characterized Oligo-/Asymptomatic Patients. Rubio-Acero R, Castelletti N, Fingerle V et al, Infect Dis Ther 10, 1505-1518 (2021). https://doi.org/10.100/s40121-021-00475-x

A Dried Blood Spot Protocol for high throughput analysis of SARS-CoV-2 Serology based on the Roche Elecsys Anti-N Assay. Beyerl J, Rubio-Acero R, Castelletti N, Paunovic I, Kroidl I, Khan, Z, Bakuli, A, Tautz A, Oft J, Hoelscher M, Wieser A, EBioMedicine, Volume 70, 2021, 103502. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ebiom.2021.103502

Spatially resolved qualified sewage spot sampling to track SARS-CoV-2 dynamics in Munich - One year of experience. Rubio-Acero R, Beyerl J, Muenchhoff M, Sancho Roth M,Castelletti N, Paunovic I, Radon K, Springer B, Nagel C, Boehm B, Böhmer M, Graf A, Blum H, Stefan S, Keppler O, Osterman A, Khan Z, Hölscher M, Wieser A, Science of The Total Environment, Volume 797, 2021, 149031, ISSN 0048-9697. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.149031

Broad T Cell Targeting of Structural Proteins After SARS-CoV-2 Infection: High Throughput Assessment of T Cell Reactivity Using an Automated Interferon Gamma Release Assay. Brand I, Gilberg L, Bruger J, Garí M, Wieser A, Eser TM, Frese J, Ahmed MIM, Rubio-Acero R, Guggenbuehl Noller JM, Castelletti N, Diekmannshemke J, Thiesbrummel S, Huynh D, Winter S, Kroidl I, Fuchs C, Hoelscher M, Roider J, Kobold S, Pritsch M, Geldmacher C, Front Immunol. 2021 May 20;12:688436. doi: https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2021.688436. PMID: 34093595; PMCID: PMC8173205.*

*Generalsummary of the KoCoIndex study

Further publications can be found in the complete overview of the department:

Publication of the epidemiological results
Radon, K., Bakuli, A., Pütz, P. et al. From first to second wave: follow-up of the prospective COVID-19 cohort (KoCo19) in Munich (Germany). BMC Infect Dis 21, 925 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12879-021-06589-4

Press release 23.12.2020
The interim results of the second round of the KoCo19 study published in December 2020 can be found in the press release of 23.12.2020.

Publication of the epidemiologic results
Pritsch M, Radon K, Bakuli A, Le Gleut R, Olbrich L, Guggenbüehl Noller JM, Saathoff E, Castelletti N, Garí M, Pütz P, Schälte Y, Frahnow T, Wölfel R, Rothe C, Pletschette M, Metaxa D, Forster F, Thiel V, Rieß F, Diefenbach MN, Fröschl G, Bruger J, Winter S, Frese J, Puchinger K, Brand I, Kroidl I, Hasenauer J, Fuchs C, Wieser A, Hoelscher M, on behalf of the KoCo19 study group. Prevalence and Risk Factors of Infection in the Representative COVID-19 Cohort Munich. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2021; 18(7):3572. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18073572

Pre-print publication on laboratory methodology

Note: This pre-print manuscript is a preprint that has not yet been peer-reviewed.

A Serology Strategy for Epidemiological Studies Based on the Comparison of the Performance of Seven Different Test Systems - The Representative COVID-19 Cohort Munich, Laura Olbrich, Noemi Castelletti, Yannik Schälte, Mercè Garí, Peter Pütz, Abhishek Bakuli, Michael Pritsch, Inge Kroidl, Elmar Saathoff, Jessica Michelle Guggenbuehl Noller, Volker Fingerle, Ronan Le Gleut, Leonard Gilberg, Isabel Brand, Philine Falk, Alisa Markgraf, Flora Deák, Friedrich Riess, Max Diefenbach, Tabea Eser, Franz Weinauer, Silke Martin, Ernst-Markus Quenzel, Marc Becker, Jürgen Durner, Philipp Girl, Katharina Müller, Katja Radon, Christiane Fuchs, Roman Wölfel, Jan Hasenauer, Michael Hoelscher, Andreas Wieser, medRxiv 2021.01.13.21249735; doi: h ttps://doi.org/ 10.1101/2021.01.13.21249735

Generally understandable summary of the results


Note: The texts are a generally understandable description of the epidemiological results and the laboratory measurement techniques used in the Prospective COVID-19 Cohort Munich (CoCo19). It is sometimes simplified and unnecessarily complicated details are omitted to make correlations easier to understand. For further details, please refer to the original scientific publications.

In addition to tracking the antibody status of the study participants since April 2020, we are also interested in the well-being of the KoCo19 participants. We collect this information in the various questionnaires. Here you can find interim results of the survey (as of January 2021).

Radon, K., Saathoff, E., Pritsch, M. et al. Protocol of a population-based prospective COVID-19 cohort study Munich, Germany (KoCo19). BMC Public Health 20, 1036 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-020-09164-9

Press releases and media reports on the KoCo19 study

The project is also funded by the pan-European consortium ORCHESTRA. The ORCHESTRA project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No 101016167. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.