Antibody tests - anyone had one?

[PuzzledObserver]

A few days ago I received an invitation to join a study looking for prevalence of antibodies in the population. I will have to provide a blood sample once a month for 6 months, but I will not be told my personal results.

The same day I received an email from a private testing company I have used before saying that they now have antibody tests available - it’s the Abbott one which has the CE mark. The temptation was too great, so I have ordered one. Today I hear that one from Roche has been approved for use in the U.K.

I would have told you I haven’t had it, but back in late January DH and I both had a nasty cough after we’d sat in a concert next to someone who was coughing continuously. We thought it was a cold, but not a typical one because we didn’t have runny nose or sneezing, just a bit bunged up after we’d had the cough for a while. When Covid started to get more publicity, we assumed it wasn’t that, because it was “too soon”. But now it appears likely that Covid was in the country much earlier. So maybe we have?

Anyway - has anyone had an antibody test? Where and how? What was your result? Do you trust it? What are you doing differently because of it?

Would be fascinated by this

Hope you have had it OP and find out soon

A friend is getting the tests in a couple of days too

Apparently the cost of the new test is only £40!

Me too, would make a massive difference. If you have detectable antibodies to the SARS-Cov-2 virus in your bloodstream from a detectable test means you almost certainly cannot get infected by it again at least for this year and probably longer, possibly long enough until the vaccine is available next year sometime (do the tests give you the levels?). That's good enough for me to feel happier about going back into crowded places.

It hasn’t arrived yet, but is on its way.

The 6 million dollar question is, why do I want to know? Well, curiosity, mainly.... and a little bit of anxiety. I’m in a vulnerable group (not extremely vulnerable) so I have been being careful. Exercise and essential shopping only, haven’t met anybody socially at all - other than genuinely accidentally bumping into people I know when out for a walk.

I wfh a lot anyway, but would normally be attending meetings most days and having 1 to 1’s with people. All of that is now remote or not happening. We will not be resuming f2f until July at the earliest, probably later - but I still find myself worrying that if I get it I would be seriously ill, or that I could pass it on to one of the people I work with, most of whom are even more vulnerable than me.

If I knew I’d had it, I’d just be reassured. It would mean I had it mildly. I would probably, though not definitely, have some immunity. I would still follow social distancing and handwashing, but I’d just feel a bit more relaxed.

I'm pretty convinced I would have some immunity if I have antibodies- that's the way with most infectious diseases. Plus this virus has been a shit storm for my husband and I and I don't really want to go through that again in two weeks time. Perhaps going through this ordeal has made me fear this virus and I would like some little comfort from a test.

Update - I had an email from the supplier today saying that, as prices are dropping all the time, they are reducing it by £20 and will be sending me a refund. The kit itself hasn't arrived yet, though.

And the Abbott test has now been approved by PHE as well

Got my result - negative

Public Health England evaluated both tests.

For the Abbott test, the assay gave an overall sensitivity of 92.71%, with a sensitivity ≥14 days of 93.90%. This is lower than the manufacturer’s reported sensitivity of 100% for samples taken
≥14 days post symptom onset. The sensitivity of the assay at ≥21 days post symptom onset is 93.40% and at >40 days post symptom onset is 87.5%.

This means that it loses accuracy the longer ago your symptoms.

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/886158/PHE_Evaluation_of_Abbott_SARS_CoV_2_IgG.pdf

For the Roche test, The assay gave an overall sensitivity of 83.87%, with a sensitivity ≥14 days of 87.0%. This is lower than the manufacturer’s reported sensitivity of 100% for samples taken
≥14 days post symptom onset. The sensitivity of the assay at ≥21 days post symptom onset is 87.7%, rising to 100% for samples >40 days after symptom onset. So this one became more sensitive if the symptoms were more than 40 days ago.

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/886159/PHE_Evaluation_of_Roche_Elecsys_anti_SARS_CoV_2.pdf?fbclid=IwAR3_CFcH6lFY936Jx63oErMtpMSFl1FV01sHsa9nM17nwdv5uca0lvXR0Dc

Oh Sweet so if I think I may have had it in March I need to wait until the Roche one is available to buy online? (I dont think it is yet?) as the Abbot one wouldn't be too accurate?

I assume they work in different ways then...

Yes Pineapple. I got a negative on the Abbott test despite seeing and examining patients who were subsequently diagnosed with Covid in early March and I had no PPE. I only had mild symptoms though, I may not have mounted an antibody response. I will retest when the Roche one becomes available.

Superdrug are now doing them I see. But they are Abbott tests - presumably I need to wait?

Ah sorry cross posted - thankyou Sweet.

Yes I have

Positive swab test end of March
Positive antibody test a week ago

Yes I did the Abbot one. Positive result, we were ill at end of March but weren’t tested at the time

Where did you get the Abbott test from @BanburyBun?

Mayve it is worth me paying for the abbbot one then. You can get it via superdrug. I dont want a false negative though... I was ill beg March.

Can someone link to where it's confirmed that the superdrug antibody test is the Abbott lab based one? They state the test they are selling has Specificity 100% and Sensitivity 97.5%. I'd thought the Abbott one had higher sensitivity.

Google superdrug + abbott...

eg www.pharmacy.biz/superdrug-criticised-for-rolling-out-69-antibody-kit-which-wasnt-intended-for-use-as-a-home-test/