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Original poster

Antibody test approved in the UK!

130 replies

Biscuit0110 · 14/05/2020 06:41

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

OP posts:
kingkuta · 14/05/2020 08:41

The Abbott tests you can buy now are reported as 100% accurate as well and can be done at home

MinkowskisButterfly · 14/05/2020 09:09

I'm think I may have had it but didn't have all the classic symptoms - I had a cough and breathlessness without anything else. I'm asthmatic but this was worse than my normally mild under control exercise induced asthma. Walking up the stairs left me almost collapsing from fatigue and breathlessness. 111 and a GP both suspected I had it (phoned gp for a different inhaler, gp referred to 111, who inturn referred me to a and e, who on turn wouldn't even see me Sad)

A few weeks on I'm still using my reliever daily (previously would use every few months) but not the 5+ times a day I was.

I really would take the test as I feel like I'm a ticking time bomb for catching it as Dh is still working in a busy, non socially distance job. (I'm also obese - which I'm working on but adds to my concerns).

MarshaBradyo · 14/05/2020 09:10

Great news

LadyofTheManners · 14/05/2020 09:13

Yes absolutely I will and it may sound silly but I hope we all did have it
DS desperately wants to go into school, he could due to his EHCP but until we know he cannot go due to health issues. His sister is a lazy cow as well who is really struggling out the classroom so the school would take her too as her head knows she needs structure of school room.
I will be first in line as soon as our surgery gets them

Bollss · 14/05/2020 09:14

Wahoo! This has made me really happy actually. I don't think we have had it but it will be incredibly interesting to see how many people have had it and haven't had symptoms.

MarshaBradyo · 14/05/2020 09:16

I don’t think we’ve had it but I’ve been waiting for this step since they first mentioned it. Finally a steer on proportion who’ve had it (antibodies anyway).

hamstersarse · 14/05/2020 09:17

@BunsyGirl @mooserp

I think the medichecks one is the Abbott one not the Roche one

www.covid-19.medichecks.com/product-page/covid-19-antibody-test

LadyofTheManners · 14/05/2020 09:22

Also, the good thing is this can help treat people can't it? Didn't Tom Hanks and his wife donate plasma as a result of them having it and recovering? I'm not sure if my anaemia cancels me out but they can happily pinch some of mine if not.

Crispsareafoodgroup · 14/05/2020 09:24

I would be happy to pay for this to keep NHS costs down. Not sure how that could be implemented without it becoming unfair and all about who is/isn’t able to pay etc.

Iwalkinmyclothing · 14/05/2020 09:26

Yes, definitely. I am a bit Shock to have seemingly not had it yet as a number of people I work with and have had close contact with have been ill and tested positive. I'd like to know whether I am one of the very lucky ones who gets it but does not get ill.

sashh · 14/05/2020 09:28

Really good news! I'd be amazed if previous exposure didn't give some level of immunity (though I'm not an immunologist so maybe just wishful thinking).

There is more to it, I found out from one of Chris Witty's lectures. The ideal is a vaccination that stops you getting the disease with few or no side effects.

BUT that is not the only option eg BCG isn't that great at stopping you getting TB, what it does do is stop your TB developing complications, so it is still wotrth having if you are going to be exposed to it.

LadyofTheManners · 14/05/2020 09:30

@sashh isn't there also a train of thought that suggests those who had the BCG in school are less likely to suffer badly if at all from covid? They only stopped it here I think in 2009 and I had it. Maybe if true they should start with giving that out as a priority whilst we wait for a specific CV vaccine

JoeExoticsEyebrowRing · 14/05/2020 09:33

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

Well I do hope they prioritise testing people who are actually likely to have had Covid, not someone who had a cough back in November!

jasjas1973 · 14/05/2020 09:35

This Roche test has been available almost 2 weeks now for countries accepting the CE mark, which i presume we no longer do? hence the delays.

www.roche.com/media/releases/med-cor-2020-05-03.htm

I do hope we have or will get the Roche analyzers mentioned in the article.

WanderingMilly · 14/05/2020 09:45

I had a nasty illness, all the classic symptoms, I would really like to know if I had the virus so I will be having one of these tests the minute I can get my hands on one.

What worries me is that we really don't know how long antibodies last, despite reports ranging from 3 years to 'not enough antibodies'. Am I right in believing coronavirus is a similar type of virus to colds and 'flu or am I wrong on that? Because if I have the 'flu I have antibodies but they don't last until the following year, when I could get it again....and 'flu jabs are done every year. Likewise with a cold...If I catch one, I'm immune for about 3 - 4 weeks but can catch another cold after that. What if the virus is like that? We'd be done for.....

RubaiyatOfAnyone · 14/05/2020 09:54

@cotswoldsapple thank you For that Nature link - genuinely interesting.

The thing that really worries me is that we have no idea If Covid is like Dengue fever, with which it shares a lot of features, in that it gets worse with each reinfection, not milder because of antibodies. I suppose this is because it is such a new virus that it hasn’t been around long enough yet to know. If that could be confirmed i would be a lot more sanguine about catching it. Does anyone know of any research in this area?

RubaiyatOfAnyone · 14/05/2020 09:57

@WanderingMilly “colds“ are a catchall term for mild respiratory illnesses are caused by loads of different viruses, although coronaviruses account for about half a dozen of the most common i believe, which is why catching one cold doesn’t give you immunity to the next - it is probably caused by a different virus.

Flu is not caused by a coronavirus and mutates significantly, hence the need for yearly changed vaccines.

PicsInRed · 14/05/2020 09:58

JoeExoticsEyebrowRing

It wasn't a just a cough, dear, it was the nasty illness many have complained of which left them choking, retching and breathless for weeks or months late last year. Or hospitalised with pneumonia or (reported by their relatives), dead.

CodenameVillanelle · 14/05/2020 10:00

Coughed right though November Hmm that wasn't covid

Bigfishylittlefishy · 14/05/2020 10:01

Really want one. We were all ill the very first week of lockdown .

CodenameVillanelle · 14/05/2020 10:02

Right, but it wasn't covid, because what we know about pandemics tells us that covid wasn't here before January or December at the very earliest

Unless you flew back from Wuhan right before you got the cough after taking a holiday strolling the wet markets and touring the hospitals?

CodenameVillanelle · 14/05/2020 10:03

isn't there also a train of thought that suggests those who had the BCG in school are less likely to suffer badly if at all from covid?

That's interesting. My DS didn't get any symptoms at all when I got it and he had the BCG as a baby. It's not universal any more (or wasn't when he was born) but he had it as higher risk due to his ethnic background

PicsInRed · 14/05/2020 10:04

Unless you flew back from Wuhan right before you got the cough after taking a holiday strolling the wet markets and touring the hospitals?

That's exactly what I did. Made sure I licked some lampposts for good measure.

Orangeblossom78 · 14/05/2020 10:08

How is it different from the Abbott one please? I know it can be taken at home. Have just ordered one in last week and unsure whether to cancel and wait for this one instead

LadyofTheManners · 14/05/2020 10:19

@CodenameVillanelle yes there was reports quite a while ago at the start of lockdown that places which still routinely gave the BCG had lesser numbers of deaths and far less serious cases of illness. Not sure if that was disproved or not.
I think I had it, in fact, my son's consultant agrees (although we are being militantly careful regardless) at the end of December, beginning of January. Oh it was awful. Really really bad. And our area is very small. We all congregate in two places as a community other than schools- the local pub and the church.
All of us, one after the other, got sick. Really sick. In fact, the landlord of the pub had been due to go on holiday towards the end of January for his birthday and took to wearing face masks as he said he was sick of the great plague we all seemed to have had or were still getting and he didn't want to cancel his holiday.
It doesn't seem so funny now but compared to the rest of the town's our village is part of, we have had barely any "official" cases since testing started and altogether 3 deaths.
It was awful. I didn't end up in hospital and only one person I know from the church did before this with what was said to be pneumonia. I felt like my throat had been replaced with a combination of gravel, broken glass and razor blades. Even drinking water was extremely painful. I had no appetite, was sweating and shaking yet felt cold but had a temperature. My whole entire body aches and my skin was really sensitive, it felt like my arms were dipped in acid. Couldn't smell a thing. Everytime I would try and sleep, and I was exhausted to the point I've never felt even when looking after DS when he came home from hospital on oxygen as a baby, I would feel like I was drowning. The cough, god the cough. It was non stop, it was painful and at one point DH wanted to call an ambulance. I had to get him to dig a raiser thingy we used to use with DS out the attic to prop me up.
Then, it went for three days. I felt OK. Still tired and still had the cough but not as bad. The day of new year, Christ, I felt like I had been hit by twenty buses. Everyone was joking I had a hangover but hadn't drunk anything. Few more days then fine again but cough wouldn't shift until February.
Even now, what worries me is the after effects. I'm so easily worn out. I have to use an inhaler now which I didn't before. Even walking round the block makes me feel like I've run a marathon when it's hot out. It's awful as I can't exercise properly and I miss it. But obviously, no test done as it wasn't known of fully at that point.