Test to detect COVID-19 antibodies ready for public use, UW researchers say
Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer
For those who were sick recently but werent sure if they had the coronavirus, a new test is coming that will answer the question and it could be available as early as next week. .
The University of Washington School of Medicine Virology Lab has been working with pharmaceutical giant Abbott Laboratories to fine tune a test that detects antibodies in the blood of a person who may have had the virus.
The test seems to be very, very sensitive," said Dr. Keith Jerome, who heads up UW Medicines Virology Division. "If a person has had COVID, the test detects them with a very, very high degree of reliability.
-snip-
Starting next week, he said, the lab will be prepped to test 4,000 blood samples a day with the expectation it can handle 12,000 to 14,000 a day in the coming weeks.
The lab is receiving early shipments from Abbot because of its work with Abbot to determine the accuracy of the test.
Read more: https://www.seattlepi.com/coronavirus/article/Test-to-detect-COVID-19-antibodies-ready-15209928.php?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dailynewsletterspi&utm_term=spi
Is this the test capacity Trump is supposedly talking about? He'll try to take credit though he had nothing to do with it.
Evolve Dammit
(16,803 posts)Pitchforks coming out
murielm99
(30,780 posts)My husband and I were sick with something in mid-February, before this was known widely. We ran temperatures, had diarrhea, and threw up. I still can't eat some foods. My appetite is off.
A couple of our friends had it, too. I would not let my husband go to his greasy spoon restaurants for coffee with the other old men for a while.
We are taking precautions as best as we can. But I would like to know something about symptoms in prior illnesses.
Aristus
(66,509 posts)There is some preliminary evidence to suggest that the infection can settle in the kidneys after ravaging the lungs. But very little to indicate a gastric presence.
Due to the popularity of the term 'stomach flu', people have gotten hung up on the idea that nausea and vomiting are indicators of what is essentially a respiratory illness.
I go through this with my patients all the time in the diagnosing and treatment of influenza. Influenza and the novel coronavirus are respiratory in nature.
Sgent
(5,857 posts)however might be a little more suggestive, and GI symptoms are fairly common for CV (~20%).
Aristus
(66,509 posts)And anosmia is more of an ENT condition.
Dem2theMax
(9,658 posts)The World Health Organization issued a warning Friday about coronavirus testing, saying there's no evidence serological tests can show whether a person has immunity or is no longer at risk of becoming reinfected.
"These antibody tests will be able to measure that level of serology presence, that level of antibodies, but that does not mean that somebody with antibodies" is immune, said Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, head of WHO's emerging diseases and zoonosis unit.
-snip-
Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of WHO's emergencies program, said scientists are also still determining the length of protection antibodies might give a person who has been infected with the coronavirus.
"Nobody is sure whether someone with antibodies is fully protected against having the disease or being exposed again," he said.
https://www-cnbc-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.cnbc.com/amp/2020/04/17/who-issues-warning-on-coronavirus-testing-theres-no-evidence-antibody-tests-show-immunity.html?amp_js_v=a3&_gsa=1&usqp=mq331AQFKAGwASA%3D#aoh=15872441731272&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&_tf=From%20%251%24s&share=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnbc.com%2F2020%2F04%2F17%2Fwho-issues-warning-on-coronavirus-testing-theres-no-evidence-antibody-tests-show-immunity.html
A lot more in the article, some of which says the exact opposite of the article linked in the original post. There is so much confusing information out there. It's going to take a very long time for us to get to concrete facts.
Igel
(35,383 posts)it may not be perfect protection," Jerome said. "It might be possible to get infected again, but if you did, you wouldn't end up in the hospital.
Key word is "could". That guides the rest of the quote.
If you have the antibody you *could* be better protected. Not "immune." That protection "may not be" perfect--but since it's only protection that *could* exist, we've hedged on our hedge.
Compare that with "Nobody is sure whether someone with antibodies is fully protected against having the disease [ upon ] being exposed again."
And those are the facts. Sadly, the facts are possibilities because nobody actually knows. Or if they do, I haven't seen the evidence--that may not be all that meaningful, but it's not like I've tuned things out completely.
You have antibodies, they might (which entails "might not" confer some protection. (Remember "may" and "might" can always be replaced by "may not" or "might not" without any change in the truth value of the sentence.)
If they do, that protection might be partial or complete.
If the protection is partial or complete, it might be short-lived or for a person's life.
Steelrolled
(2,022 posts)You are right, and the problem is compounded by the influence (conscious or not) of politics.
Dem2theMax
(9,658 posts)Not going into why, but I really appreciate it.
Igel
(35,383 posts)Gets around the swab-shortage problem.
https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/first-saliva-test-for-covid-19-approved-for-emergency-use-by-fda-67416
Doesn't say what processing times are--15 minutes? 48 hours?
DeminPennswoods
(15,294 posts)of what the true infection rate is. It can also help determine who has antibodies but was never sick, answereing the "asymptomatic carrier" question.
Javaman
(62,534 posts)Second coming of Christ if it happened while he was prezzz.
He only cares about himself
madville
(7,413 posts)and 64 tested positive for COVID-19 antibodies and almost all reported they had not experienced any noticeable symptoms. I think most people will be exposed before a vaccine is rolled out next year.
Steelrolled
(2,022 posts)It would indicate that herd immunity might be much further along than expected.
madville
(7,413 posts)As deadly as it is thought to be. The death rate could actually be more like 0.3% instead of 3% which is also good news.