Antibody testing thread 2

[Egghead68]

Thread for people thinking about, doing, or awaiting results of COVID-19 antibody tests.

Mine was positive and I had moderate symptoms. Breathlessness, cough, fatigue, headache but no fever or loss of taste, although possibly loss of smell.

Haven;t RTFT as it's too long however, has anyone had a positive COVD test and then had a negative antibody test?

It's just this is what happened to my neighbours girlfriend and I was wondering if it was a weird anomaly or if there were lots of people who are not producing antobodies despite definitely having had the virus?

@lockdownalli there are lots of people reporting that on reddit

I'm having mine tomorrow through work. I've not had any classic symptoms at any point really, but I've had the odd cough and sore throat. The feedback in my trust so far seems to be there are lots of people who've tested positive but had no symptoms.
I'm really hoping mine is positive...

Had mine today through work. Loads of colleagues have come back positive for antibodies, far more than we thought would do!

Interesting. Did they tend to be people who didn’t really have symptoms @RogueV?

Apologies if this has already been answered but how do you find a clinic or private GP to take the blood now? ( England)
I though government had halted these- Superdrug not offering them now.
I’m keen to find out as was ill earlier in year and had all symptoms but at the time the advice was only to seek advice if you’d just returned from China or Italy.

Just google and phone round. The home test ones have been halted but you can still get clinic ones.

I am having mine tomorrow through work. Not had any symptoms so will be surprised if I have a positive.

Our trust is testing all 7,000 members of staff. I think it's a PHE initiative.

I was tested through work (NHS) and got a positive result. I had a confirmed case in early April.

In our trust there's been just over 10% coming back positive (5000 tests so far). Anecdotally, the person running the testing programme told me that lots of people are testing positive who had no symptoms, and quite a few testing negative who had confirmed cases. All very strange.

Hi guys. I have shared this on another thread but just incase you haven't seen it I'll share on here too.

I work at a pharmacy where we provide antibody tests. These are approved for in branch testing only to be carried out by a health care professional.

These are the most accurate ones that we have found on the market as they test for two antibodies (igg and igm) unlike ones like abbot that just test for igg.

So just be aware of getting false negatives. We have had patients where the igm antibodies have been detected and not igg so if they took an abbot instead it would've been read as a (false) negative result.

Soon patients in London who require blood test for any reason such as minor illness or for routine tests will be able to ask their GP for the antibody test.Hospitals are testing their staffs as well as some patients attending AE with symptoms.

Thank you @mummykauli7. That’s interesting. What brand are your tests please?

@womanvsfood also interesting. Several people have said similar.

@egghead68 they are Biopanda

I think the biopanda tests have less specificity?

I'm not sure about the specificity but I know the sensitivity is 100% if tested after 21 days of symptoms (which is when we advise our patients gets tested)

Will look into specificity though, thank you

Thank you @mummykauli7.

Biopanda sensitivity and specificity data here:

www.biopanda.co.uk/php/products/rapid/infectious_diseases/covid19.php

There is a very dodgy comment on the graph of the Biopanda document that reads “IgG stays in the blood and provides long-term immunity”. Erm...

Just curious here... people that have taken multiple tests and still think they could be wrong... would you still take all the tests and think it was wrong if you got a positive result?

I haven't taken an antibody test because it wouldn't change my behaviour without solid evidence I couldn't pass covid on to anyone still through clothing etc and the anti bodies definitely mean immunity. But have found the reactions of my friends, family and posters on here really interesting. Definitely confirmation bias in action!

I am really sorry to those reading this for not having the result you hoped for. In a way I'm pleased the tests have been temporarily halted for review, both to confirm the reliability of the tests but I do genuinely worry that if people appear to have the anti bodies all sorts of silly behaviour will begin again, both from people that have antibodies and more dangerously people that don't have antibodies but don't want to miss out!

Would love to hear your thoughts!

My local CCG wants 30,000 antibody tests doing, starting with NHS staff. I tested negative, having isolated with minor symptoms in March, it was probably just a cold.

Only two staff out of 40 at my practice have tested positive for antibodies. One was a likely case, the other was ill in February before Covid was thought to be in the local area.

Where can you buy antigen tests online? Both Babylon and Superdrug websites out of stock/ not available

My NHS trust are testing all staff. So far around 8% have tested positive. I’m still awaiting my test result although I’m expecting a negative as they apparently call the positive people up first. On my ward we have had a few positives but mainly negative despite most of us having cared for covid positive patients at some point and little social distancing in communal areas.

@lettuceplants the government has banned online tests for now (is my understanding). If you want to be tested you need to find somewhere that will do a blood draw such as a private GP service. Or wait for the NHS ones.

@LittleMrsMama if I had had no symptoms and no known exposure but got two positive results I would have some doubt in my mind as to whether (a) the tests were wrong and picking up antibodies to a different coronavirus, as we know can happen for at least some tests, although very rarely for the Abbott test or (b) I had had unwittingly been exposed and had an asymptomatic case of Covid (which we know can happen). I would probably plump for the latter as more likely. Conversely, if I knew I had had heavy exposure to a highly infectious disease in the hospital in which I worked, had 10 weeks of covid-like symptoms in the middle of a pandemic but got two negative results there would be some question in my mind as to whether (a) I had somehow contracted a different disease with the same symptoms, such as the (rare) adenovirus-14 or whether (b) as we know can happen, I had had a t-cell immune response to covid rather than an IgG response. I would again plump for the latter as more likely. It’s all about probability.

There are a couple (at least, maybe more) that are still selling the IgG antibody Abbott tests using the finger prick method. I'm not going to name them on here and advertise for them, but they are easy to find online.