Wtf? Negative antibody test, absolutely sure I've had it

[Aisforharlot]

I had a venous antibody test as part of a trial, which has come back negative.
But I'm 99.9% certain I've had and got over the virus.
Had all the symptoms - dry cough, short lived fever, heavy chest, fatigue for a month, loss of taste and smell.
My partner also had loss of smell, cough and delirium.

I've never lost taste and smell like that before with any illness, ever. I'm damn sure I've had it.

So why the result? Can anyone shed some light?

[palacegirl77]

No antibodies. You may have had it. Your body may not have created antibodies. You're not immune?

[Epigram]

Well I guess the only possibilities are:

1. You didn't have covid19 but a different virus.
   
2. You had it but haven't got enough antibodies to be picked up on the test.
   
3. False negative.
   

Did they give you a figure for the accuracy of the test?

[Aisforharlot]

I dont know details of the test they used, but they took a proper blood sample.
I'm gutted, actually.

[ChubbyPigeon]

Im exactly the same. I was convinced Id had it. Theres lots of people in the same boat

All the symptoms. I even read threads on MN with exact same progression of symptoms who swabbed positive

I really think if youve had loss of taste or smell youve had it.

In our trust we had at least 3 people swabbed positive who tested negative for antibodies. Ive heard reports of others.

[ChubbyPigeon]

I felt really gutted too actually OP! Your not alone

[Aisforharlot]

Does anyone have a theory for why, ChubbyPigeon?
Surely if we recovered we made antibodies?

[Nonononon]

My manager won't sign me up for an anti body test (even though I was sent home to isolate due to having some symptoms, I'm care worker) as she said they're unreliable and useless. She had a conversation with a nurse who told her this apparantly.. I would still have liked one mind.. just to be sure and would have thought at least it could have gone down as a statistic but she's not doing it..

[SoloMummy]

I read something that stated that 20% of results are false negatives.

[Hazelnutlatteplease]

Just because you've had it doesn't mean you develop long lasting antibodies/immunity.

[MyOtherProfile]

@Aisforharlot

Does anyone have a theory for why, ChubbyPigeon?
Surely if we recovered we made antibodies?

We don't know how long the antibodies last, or maybe you didn't make enough antibodies to show in a test.

Basically we just don't know enough about the physiology of the disease yet.

[ChubbyPigeon]

Theres another thread about antibody tests on here and there are lots of theories

Its called antibody testing part 2. Im shit at linking

[Sunshineandmoonlight]

Sometimes our immune system does not develop antibodies well. Depending on the test there are also false negatives and false positives. Roche and Abbott are the two IgG antibody tests for covid that have very good reliability providing you are two weeks post infection.

[Sunshineandmoonlight]

Also plenty of people walking around who haven’t developed any antibodies to various infections (also failed to make antibodies to vaccines etc).

[venetianblue]

Have a read of //www.nature.com/articles/nm.3985 2015

It's a medical research article in 'Nature' by the Wuhan lab and US scientists when they created a SARs-Covid chimeric virus is created, it attacks lung cells and it seems from the article they found no antibody, vaccine or treatment success in their research.

So there was no antibody there or barely any.

[Keepdistance]

Are you older as they say older people dont respond as well to vax. They said something about over 40 and bcg.

It may be they test antibody tests mainly on hospitalised and icu patients? Who would have more antibodies. Also they think maybe some people fight off with t cells or measles immunity or other coronaviruses.

[saylor]

OP me too!!!! I was totally and utterly convinced I had it back-end of January. I live in central London with a DH who moves around a lot for work, so it's possible we were one of the early cases in London. I had all the symptoms.

Then I did the Superdrug antibody test 2 weeks ago that apparently has 100% accuracy and it came back negative. I was really surprised.

[spinningaround72]

I dont think the tests are accurate. I know somebody who had covid and it seemed like a fluke that they eventually got two negative tests after a mixture of positive and negatives...then they tested positive again.

[WanderingMilly]

I had the antibody test (via the government approved test) and was positive for antibodies, I wasn't surprised as I was sure I had the virus (and I was very ill with it although not hospitalised).

If you have had the approved test it is 100% accurate for testing and 99.63% for specificity so although it could be a false result, it is less likely than some of the other tests available.

However, it may be that your body doesn't make antibodies. Or it may be that the antibodies made were very few in number and barely detectable. Its also possible that the antibodies don't last in the system very long....no one knows for sure, not enough research. Since we don't know whether the antibodies give immunity, and even if they did, we don't know how long that will last, it may also be that antibodies are present for a short while and then trail off - how long ago was the illness?

[WanderingMilly]

Those who have had the Superdrug test, I thought these were being stopped because they have been shown not to be terribly accurate?

[Yankathebear]

The antibody tests are 80% accurate. They are also more likely to show a false negative if you had mild symptoms.

[Haworthia]

I lose taste and smell with lots of viruses, I don’t think it’s a guarantee of having had Covid.

[MashedSpud]

Antibodies can wear off over time.

You may have had it but the immunity your body built up is now gone.

[lissa93]

I don't understand?

I tested positive for Coronavirus just after lockdown began. I recovered.

Dh works in a high risk environment

I just tested positive again 3 days ago.. and I have worse symptoms this time, my chest is so tight and I'm pretty breathless. However my daughter (2) and husband are fine apart from a temperature for the 2nd time!

So I don't get what the antibodies business is being talked about so much?

[Inkpaperstars]

That's worrying lissa have you had any medical advice about this/been asked to supply further details?

[Aisforharlot]

Thanks for the links, I'm reading the antibody testing thread with interest- relieved I'm not alone in this, actually.

I was Ill starting 15th march, so well over it.

I'm 37, to answer a previous q, had the bcg. Mild symptoms if long lasting.