Antibody test approved in the UK!

[Biscuit0110]

Fantastic news to wake up to this morning.

The antibody test has been approved in the UK, it is a 100% accurate and will be rolled out 'within weeks'.

This will be a game changer for the whole country, I can not wait to have one (very ill in February) will you be taking one?
Is this how we are going to get back on track? Combine with the track and trace app and we may just have a coherent science based route back to normality.

news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-new-100-accurate-covid-19-antibody-test-approved-for-use-in-uk-11987924

I hadn't looked into what the Medichecks test is, just saw that it was for antibodies

It will be very interesting to see whether those who have actually had Covid-19 as proved by testing now have antibodies, and how long has elapsed between becoming infected and having those antibodies, since we don't know how long immunity lasts after being infected.

I highly doubt I have had it as I am house-bound anyway, and haven't been out for months. It's very good to see an antibody test becoming available, even if it will take awhile to scale up manufacturing.

this is definitely good news. i would pay for one if needed when they are avaialable. I am an NHS clinician working with pts (mostly not COVDpositive) and dh is a teacher. Our dd1 , dh and myslef all had symptoms of varying severity at the end of Feb just before this all kicked off so I do wonder if we had posisbly had it. It would be helpful for us to know, also considering sending other dc back to school as dh school reopens and ha wont be awfh so it would also be good to know if any of the other dc had any antibodies or not.
I really hpe this becomes available really soon.

I read may be immune for 3 years. I don’t see how they can know yet.

And I also assume if the virus mutates again then all immunity is out the window?

Does a positive antibody test from Roche mean you are covid-immune ?

No. They are not entirely sure about anything to do with immunity. In reality it might do. But, officially, theres no confirmation of immunity, how long it would last or if the anibodies mean you could get it again but milder.

I will definitely do an antibody rest. I had a dry cough, headache and a slightly raised temperature for a couple of weeks in March, which I would love to think was Covid (I’ve recorded my temperature on a chart every day since mid March, so I can tell when the average changes. There are some advantages to being a geek.)

Yes, The weekend the children broke up from school my eldest came down with a sore throat and a dry cough for 5 days - it passed to my younger children. Me and my shielded DP didn't really get anything. Dp had a slightly bad chest. He used his inhaler once. But nothing bad.we assume it wasn't Covid as we were all fine really, but as we all know it doesn't always have to be bad. Did we have it? Was it just a cough?

As I say, we assume we didn't have it but there is a chance we did. That antibody test would be good to have.

My sister who is a carer, they all became ill. Her youngest child had a very dry persistent cough. They all displayed different symptoms. DSis had fever and chills, her partner had a wheezy chest, her youngest had a fever and cough. Again nothing serious but she could have had it.

The virus displays in so many forms from no symptoms to mild to severe how do any of is really know.

And I also assume if the virus mutates again then all immunity is out the window?

Fortunately, no. It's a possibility but the mutations seen so far haven't affected the infiltration proteins (the 'key' the virus uses to 'unlock' the cell and enter) even if these change, your body produces a lot of different antibodies against the same target (polyclonal) so it's possible to still have some immunity.

I see it isn’t a home test, unfortunately. I wonder how access to these tests will be allocated.

I would definitely take one. Both DH and I were ill at the start of March.

Yes it will be so helpful to all NHS workers, based on the antibody test they may be able to arrange those that care for CoVid to be immune, and keep those that are not well away from the front line. In many settings this test could save lives.

One can only hope the vaccine will not be far behind, and this awful chapter will come to a close.

They've been doing antibody testing here in Finland, in the most infected area. Preliminary results are not good, only 2.4% show any antibodies and only 3 people in the whole study show enough antibodies to indicate immunity.

che The plan as far as I am aware, is for it to be rolled out to NHS workers first - which is absolutely right - and then keyworkers. After that, it will be available on Amazon and to buy in Boots to anyone. Given the production capacity of Roche, this will not take as long as you think.

nat Lots of testing is being done all over the world. I am not sure if they are the same? The tests here are 100%, and I would expect immunity numbers to be much higher in the UK.

I do wonder if those who have tested positive will be eligible for the test. People may assume because they tested positive that their body built up am antibody for it. Is there a chance that if you have definitely had it that your body has no antibodies and you are in as much danger of getting it again and maybe worse than you were before you had it.

I see it isn’t a home test, unfortunately

This is likely because it's quicker to validate an automated test (since a home test strip would have to be manually run thousands of times). I'm not sure we'll see a true home test simply because it requires decent bit of blood but there's a definite possibility of moving to a point of care test (e.g. results in minutes at a drive-up testing centre) in time. If you're looking for some good news, it will help enormously with the production of convalescent plasma (which looks like a good bet for helping the critically ill recover).

www.nature.com/articles/nm.3985

2015 medical research article in Nature by the Wuhan lab and US scientists. A SARs-Covid chimeric virus is created by the lab, it attacks lung cells and it seems from the article they found antibodies, but no immunity or successful vaccine in their research

gronky which fits in with Johnson saying we will have testing capacity of over 250,000 soon. It will be a combination of antibody testing and standard coronavirus testing.

I would like to have one
What would be ideal is to find out that we are immune if we have it as that would be a huge difference

Biscuit0110 absolutely. Even with a limited persistence, antibody testing will be useful before its immunity conferring abilities are understood because it will provide a longer window for tracking. The next stage, in addition to point of care, is going from qualitative to quantitative and establishing response curves so, with 1 or possibly more tests, the timeline of infection can be established. It really does feel like we've stood up and are winding up to throw punch after punch. Even if they don't all land (e.g. a vaccine proves to be of limited use, though there's nothing indicating that this is more likely at this stage) our arsenal is growing.

Though it would be a mistake to believe anything that Johnson says.

Though it would be a mistake to believe anything that Johnson says

Though I'm not party to that information, I would imagine that the Prime Minister was aware of this trial and based the 250k figure on that, given that his feet would be held to the fire if it didn't materialise.

gronky Yes it is very encouraging.

We do seem to be building up to a very large, long term response.

A plan seems to be emerging not from the press conferences or false promises but out of the fog of the crisis - I can see the shape of a proper, well considered, co ordinated response, that must be months in the making.

The coronavirus testing is upscaled - catching those in the community on the ground

Track and trace app - to alert others to the cases that arise - also an overview of most/at some point all infections in the community at a click of a button. This will allow regions to be alert to any hot spots, and can offer huge potential for detailed flashes of infection.

Antibody testing - combining those that are now recovered and those that are recovering will offer a snapshot of how close we are to herd immunity, or indeed how far away we are. Those that are immune are invaluable on the front line and as you say the blood plasma can be used. We are also able to better protect those that are not immune.

We know they are working on many options to treat coronavirus, even if they can not vaccinate against it yet.

What is emerging from the dust, is actually incredibly good, I think the government probably need to be communicating this to the public much more effectively.

If it's a reputable test then I'm in.
Coughed right though November.

The test is reported to be 100% accurate.