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

I’ve heard this morning on bbc news that the Roche test will detect antibodies even if you were asymptomatic so I assume it will pick up antibodies I’d you had it mildly. The infection is still in your system whether you have symptoms or not so the antibodies must be present too. I hope!

i thought the Abbott test had been approved, so I was surprised to hear that the Roche test was the first one (according to all the morning papers).

But I guess the Abbott test was approved in the US and Europe, but not necessarily England? (Are we not part of Europe already for these purposes?) The data for the Abbott test looked just as good as the Roche test from what was reported

There is £7 million worth of defective antibody tests that the gov bought from Turkey doing the rounds.

@Aridane I also would prefer to have a proper blood draw one. I live just outside London so hoping for some other clinics to start doing this so I don’t need to battle London traffic (don’t fancy the tube In case I haven’t had it!). Please let us know how you get on? If it’s all really easy I might just bite the bullet.

I wonder how quickly the Roche test will become available at clinics - it’s only by blood draw apparently. Things move so quickly in the sector at the moment I wouldn’t be surprised if in a week or two some private clinics were offering it

Will do, @Bananasandorangessss

I will cycle to the test centre (live in Lon don as opposed to being super fit).

On arrival I understand I will have a temperature check and staff and myself will be mask wearing

STILL NO RESULT FOR MY TEST

I've emailed crossly and had an automated response back saying they're too busy to respond

What happened to your results?

Has anyone used Blue Horizon and got results back? They seem to have disappeared from social media.

Have you tried calling them?

Sorry you’ve had no response yet OP. I’d look at the paperwork again and see whether they promised a service within a certain timeframe. If they haven’t fulfilled their promise I’d ask for my money back.

There’s loads of people trying to make a quick buck of the back of this virus. It’s actually reckless for people to be advertising tests for £49 on here preying on anxious minds; when there is no guarantee you will even get results in a timely fashion as shown in this thread. Waiting for test results can induce worse anxiety than not knowing if you’ve had it.

To be fair, some posters on this thread seem to be more anxious than OP.

It does look like OP's test got lost. My colleagues who used Abbott (through a different intermediary) eventually got their responses within 5-8 days. The testing laboratory is indeed overwhelmed so the turnaround was much longer than anticipated, however no-one I know was particularly anxious. The antibody test is not time sensitive.

"Get ready for Covid-19 parties if people who are antibody positive get preferential treatment anywhere."

So far, these tests just seem to be taken for those wanting assurance

No country afaik plans any difference in lockdown rules for those with / out a certificate
.... which would be faked in the millions if it actually brought any concrete benefits

They might possibly be used for allowing people to go on holiday flights, I suppose
but we don't know how long immunity lasts - or whether mild versions of COVID even give immunity
So even those who would willingly get COVID to fly on holiday, should wait until more is known.

The tests - if they are now reliable - are VERY important for public health authorities to sample populations
and estimate % of those who have been infected so far

My DP has been to hospital for tests to check for long term damage due to suspected COVID. Initial tests indicated damage to one of his organs. He has to have more blood tests to check if it improves. I really cannot understand why as part of the diagnostic procedures he was not given an antibody test. Surely for medical knowledge this should be done.

He asked the GP who said no antibody test available in NHS. His organ damage could be related to a different condition so why wouldn't they try to rule COVID in or out?

I’m sure it’ll change soon and he will be able to have an antibody test. It needs to be ruled out.

I really cannot understand why as part of the diagnostic procedures he was not given an antibody test. Surely for medical knowledge this should be done

Because the results would be meaningless until a reliable test is available.

If an unreliable test is wrongly positive, or negative, it would screw up any contribution to “medical knowledge”. You still cannot say whether his symptoms are due to cv - you would be maki g an assumption the test is correct. If it isn’t, any extrapolation on symptoms or treatment is also incorrect.

There’s just no benefit.

My boyfriend and I are both key workers, he got v mild sx a few weeks back, had a test through work and was positive.

Kids and I went for the test through work and we're all negative. Was hoping the antibody test would clear up if we had it before or not but maybe not!

@bluebluezoo I know of nurses working in NHS getting COVID antibody tests. Are they not reliable?
Would you expect him to get an antibody test via NHS once everyone is happy they are reliable?

Antibody or antigen?

The nhs locally is primarily using antigen testing.

They may be trialling the test to assess efficacy but so far there isn’t one reliable enough to use as a research tool.

There is now an approved antibody test Blue the Roche one

I can't find the OP results on this thread ? Did you test positive or negative ? How does it work ? Thanks

I very nearly ordered the Abbott test but having read the news this morning it seems that it is not good enough and we have to wait for the Roche one?

@dollface19 no results for her yet. Her DH was negative

Oooh interesting! HNRTWT -OP did you get your result? I didn't even know you could get them! I'm also interested to know since I'm pretty sure I had it end Feb-all symptoms but people say this is too early must have been something else. Wpuld not affect my behaviour other than being able to say 'I told you so'

Treated doesn't have the kits in stock, but they will be arriving tomorrow apparently. Makes me think that overall processing time could be very slow as the labs are probably all overrun.

Another provider is Forth, but they are £89.