I have gone nuts and paid someone to come to my house and do an antibody test on us

[LaurieFairyCake]

Can't take anymore not knowing so I've paid £260 to bike out a test from a lab and wait while we stab ourselves and return our blood to the lab

Dh thinks I've gone a bit batshit but I couldn't take anymore

Disclaimer : it won't affect my behaviour in line with current government guidelines

F out of interest

I did a blue horizon Covid 19 antibody test - the older ELISA one that's now been superseded by the Abbot one on their website.

I didn't find getting blood out particularly easy but the turn around was as they said it would be (I sent it recorded next day delivery).

My result was positive. I thought I had had it in March (I'm also in London) as I had all the symptoms. I wanted to know as one of my dc has fairly bad asthma and we wanted to check whether what we had in March was it!

Won't change any of our behaviour but it's just good to know.

Why would I or anyone be jealous?! I don’t need an antibody test as I’ve been self isolating since 2 weeks before lockdown and live in a city where rate of transmission has been quite low, so chances are I was never exposed.

The test OP took has already failed, as it’s gone over the usual turnaround time. That’s a whole week wasted for OP. Even if she receives the results today, in lab testing terms and especially a private lab, 9 days is pretty shoddy and not worth the £260.

Just for comparison, a Vitamin D test is one of the more costly tests..it costs a GP around £130 and a very similar technique is used to test the blood sample as for an antibody test. Those results are sent back to the patient’s GP within a day. And they’re accurate results. 🤷‍♀️.

My friend just had vit D test for £29, it is an NHS lab apparently, not sure why a GP would pay £100 more.

@LaurieFairyCake have you tried ringing them? I think I would. I'm waiting to see how you get on as I'm thinking of getting one done.

Someone I know used this place:
samedaydoctor.org/service/covid-19-coronovirus-antibody-testing/

It cost them £190, but that includes an appointment and a venous blood draw, delivery costs and the Abbott lab test. They got the results within about 10 hours. Downside is you have to be able to go there in person to get the blood draw, so only suitable for people near central London.

I am considering getting it done there.

I was thinking about getting it done for one of my children, only because she was the one most effected by what ever it was she had at the time.
It was just before lockdown and she had a very high temp (40) constant cough.
Hers lasted on and of for 5 including the temp.
3 others of my household had similar but milder.
It won't change my behaviour or of that of my children but I'm interested to know and I can afford it.
But when I looked at one of them it said only over 18s, the blue horizon one didn't say an age though I dont think.
Would you get a child done?

@NotAnotherUserNumber I was thinking of getting this one done but I don’t want to use public transport and don’t fancy driving and parking around Harley street (live just outside London so wouldn’t be completely unfeasible). Was hoping some other clinics might open up! I want do to one with a blood draw rather than the at home version

@NotAnotherUserNumber out of interest did your friend get a positive result?

@Bananasandorangessss

Yes he did.

I’ve just had an email from treated.com offering an antibody test for £49 if anyone is interested.

Nothing yet? How odd.

Medichecks have emailed me this morning to say they are now doing tests for £89.

I'm afraid it's looking like the OP's test was lost somehow.

www.hsj.co.uk/coronavirus/exclusive-test-data-from-commercial-labs-going-into-black-hole/7027619.article

These labs aren’t linked to the NHS, as I’ve explained above. So they have no obligation to send results back quickly. If this is what they can do with actual covid-19 testing, then antibody testing isn’t even that crucial. 🤷‍♀️

You've got a little of negative noras on this post, I guess they're just jealous

Jealous? I've just spent far more on some nice jewellery and shoes- why waste money on something that will not alter anything knowing or not knowing?

Maybe it's too scientific to share here but there's a research paper showing the performance of Abott test. Some of you might be interested:
jcm.asm.org/content/early/2020/05/07/JCM.00941-20
The problem with these kits are they're mostly tested with pcr positive patients in hospitals. So mild or asymptomatic cases might come out negative

The problem with these kits are they're mostly tested with pcr positive patients in hospitals. So mild or asymptomatic cases might come out negative

It's interesting - what is the Gold standard for Covid-1 detection? Because that's really what you need to see how sensitive RT-PCR is and how sensitive the antibody test is later.

And it all depends on exactly who is tested, the degree of disease they get.

Thanks for that info Deux. Now its down to £49 I've ordered one. I know it wont change anything but am really interested to see if the symptoms I had were CV.

I had a cough for three weeks early April and went for a drive through test as I’m a key worker - however I waited 12 days (!!!!) for the result which came back unclear and to rebook. However my symptoms had gone by this time so I’ve caved and bought a 49 quid antibody one.

what is the Gold standard for Covid-1 detection? Because that's really what you need to see how sensitive RT-PCR is

Possibly the Nanopore Artic protocol for sequencing the viral genome. See artic.network/ - one of the coolest bits of science out there.

@chomalungma the gold standard is still PCR but it must be done on the first 5 days (better first 3 days) when the virus is still on the upper respiratory system. You have to catch the virus itself with a swab and amplify it. If that time period is missed there is a great chance of false negatives even with very severe patients. And I believe self swabbing is a lie, it's against human instincts and reflexes to go that deep to have a proper swab. So until we have a better method, for most of us (who couldn't get a proper PCR test at that time) this Abott test is our best bet. But we must be careful with this one too, as it does not guarantee immunity or can give us false negatives. Again the timing is important with this one too, but detecting antibodies are much easier than a swab PCR.

If you are more interested in the subject yesterday Nature published a paper on how to develop better ELISA tests. I believe we will have much better antibody tests soon:
www.nature.com/articles/s41591-020-0913-5

For those saying that a positive result means nothing, I don’t agree. It would have a massive implication for me as I was ill for weeks without realising that I probably had the virus. During this time, I went to work, my children went to school, attended birthday parties, took part in sporting events etc. I would inform the people that we came into contact with and they could also have tests. If a significant proportion of my work colleagues and my DC’s classmates showed antibodies, they may be more confident in returning to work and school. If they don’t have antibodies, it would mean that the virus is not as easy to catch as we first thought. Antibody tests are clearly important as they give us a better idea of the spread of infection and the consequences of that spread.

@bunsy but what would they do with that information?
We also have no idea if antibodies to covid 19 mean we have less chance of getting it again. So it really is pointless

@TheMShip

Just read the viral meagenomics protocol.

Wow. I did RT-PCR many years ago - and some basic sequencing - but that procedure has so many steps in.

www.protocols.io/view/viral-metagenomics-using-smart-9n-amplification-an-7w5hpg6