Annual Report 2021–22

36 香港中文大學年報 CUHK Annual Report 2021–2022 疫症研究取得重大突破 Making breakthroughs in pandemic research The persistent threat of the COVID-19 pandemic saw CUHK researchers continue their advances in scholarship to contribute to the local, national and global fight against the virus. Major COVID-19-related interdisciplinary research outcomes in 2021-22 include: • World’s first discovery of distinct gut microbial signatures for prediction, diagnosis and treatment of long COVID • Hong Kong’s first clinical trial of a novel oral treatment specifically developed for COVID-19 • Hong Kong’s first large-scale long COVID survey supported by the Hospital Authority • Development of a real-time bioinformatics platform to predict COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness • Heightened risk of COVID-19 caused by smoking • Effectiveness of a booster vaccine dose in retriggering antibodies in breast milk that protect babies • Higher prevalence of dry eye disease among post-COVID-19 patients • Proportion of overweight and obese kids almost doubled during the pandemic • 2.5-fold increase in myopia incidence in children during the pandemic 2019冠狀病毒病持續威脅人類健康，中大團 隊繼續致力於疾病相關的研究，造福香港、國 家、以至全球社會，守護人類健康。 中大醫學院全球首次證實，「長新冠」患者擁有獨特的腸道微 生態。左起：中大醫學院腸道微生物群研究中心副主任黃秀娟 教授、中大醫學院院長兼腸道微生物群研究中心主任陳家亮 教授，以及中大醫學院賽馬會公共衞生及基層醫療學院教授 黃至生教授。 Clinical researchers from CUHK's Faculty of Medicine have identified distinct gut microbiome profiles associated with long COVID. (From left) Professor Siew Ng, Associate Director of the Centre for Gut Microbiota Research; Professor Francis Chan, Dean of Medicine and Director of the Centre for Gut Microbiota Research; and Professor Martin Wong, Professor from The Jockey Club School of Public Health and Primary Care. 2021-2 2年與2019冠狀病毒病相關的主要 跨學科研究成果包括： ・全球首次發現「長新冠型腸道微生態」，透 過檢測腸道微生態，準確預測、診斷及治療 長新冠 ・進行香港首個研發新冠肺炎口服藥物的臨床 研究 ・獲醫管局支持開展香港首個大型長新冠研究 ・成功開發實時生物信息平台評估新冠疫苗 效用 ・吸煙增加患上新冠肺炎的風險 ・接種疫苗加強劑有效提高母乳中能保護嬰兒 的新冠病毒抗體 ・新冠康復者出現乾眼症的風險較高 ・疫下兒童超重和肥胖比率增加近兩倍 ・疫情期間學童近視發病率為疫情前的兩倍半