Antibody testing thread 2

[Egghead68]

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

I'm trying to get a test at work (NHS). My colleagues in my department have all had the test. For some reason I was left out (long story). I only know one person's results and they tested negative. The negative text states 'This result means that evidence of prior COVID-19 infection was not found in your blood. Most likely you have not had the infection, but it can take some time for antibodies to develop. Also, some people, especially those with mild infections, do not develop antibodies - or only at low levels that do not last long'. So certainly people may of had it but will never know that they've had it unless they have had the COVID-19 test to see if they have the virus at that time.

Maybe Davin meant that only 6 % of the sample group tested positive?

I have been googling to see if when Roche might become available privately, no sign of anything yet that I can find.

That sounds possible thanks @InkPaperStars. 6% is roughly the % of people in the UK (outside London) who are thought to have had covid.

I’ll post the slides from a lecture as soon as I have them and not sure if mentioned earlier, but the finger prick tests are 55-80% sensitive and the venous blood draw tests are 87%-higher (can’t remember the value) sensitive. These independent studies show lower results than the manufacturers own studies which claim 100% etc.

Thank you very much @Beebeeboo2. That would be great.

Tangentially relevant... Just been listening to Prof Tim Spector speak. He made the point that the individual variability in the immune response to covid in his opinion does not bode well for the success of any future vaccine. He said that he thinks it means that a future vaccine may well work for some people but not others.

According to someone quoted in this article, a different coronavirus (OC43) can also cause symptoms like Covid:
www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-52935644

I think we will all been soon having mass antibody testing in Wales. Just read PP about someone being in ITU with adenovirus. I never knew it could be that serious. I had Adenovirus a couple of years ago (I believe I caught it on a night out as I fell poorly 4 days after), which prodominatly affected my eyes (bilateral conjunctivitis). It made me feel so shit. I'm lucky it didn't affect my breathing or anything like that but I had a very high temperature almost 40c, weeping sore red eyes that kept pussing and itching, sweats and chills, fatigue and very bad dizziness as well. Even just getting up, I would end up falling back down again. Absolutely dreadful.

I have had mine through and was positive, never had any symptoms.

Thanks for letting us know @HavingAThink2
Can I ask whether you were tested as part of the mass testing of NHS workers?

@Egghead68 hi yes I am an NHS worker and was asked if I would like the antibody test. I am really surprised, had no idea I had had it.

Thanks @HavingAThink2. Loads of NHS workers seem to be testing positive for IgG in the NHS testing scheme (30% in one Birmingham hospital) and anecdotally many of them haven’t been noticeably ill.

Another NHS friend has had her results come back and it was negative, along with her colleagues. She was absolutely convinced she had it as she was unwell with the symptoms at the right time. Central London hospital.

I think she may well have had it @MrsWombat. It seems some people don’t produce IgG for long or at all.

My friend that is NHS frontline tested positive for Covid at start of April but her antigen test has come back negative 🤷‍♀️.

Anybody got a better source than the daily mail about how only 10 percent of people may produce antibodies due to covid 19?

Well I'm still waiting for my results. This time I made a note of the tracking number, and it's stopped tracking after the initial "we've got it" message on the royal mail website. I do hope my sample makes it to the lab and that they will be able to analyse it, because I have already stabbed my fingers a million times and I really don't fancy trying to fill that tiny bottle once again...

@Pokemontrainer I ^^think that 10% figure might originate from Prof Karol Sikora. He appears to be quite a controversial figure and I am not sure how expert he is in the field.

Yes - just checked and it is coming from him. He is an oncologist, not an immunologist, and his Wikipedia page is here en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karol_Sikora

@Beach11 I’ve read of quite a few cases like that.

@WonderTweek how frustrating!

Thanks egghead I seldom read the daily mail .. sounds suspicious then.

Anybody got a better source than the daily mail about how only 10 percent of people may produce antibodies due to covid 19?

Just read this... Given 25% of New Yorkers (city not state) and 14% Londoners have had positive antibody tests, it would be mathematically impossible for only 10% of those infected to produce antibodies.

I think those are extrapolations from smallish samples (and they used tests that weren’t considered that reliable) but yes!

Prof Sikora himself appeared to contradict the 10% claim in his tweet yesterday which said:

“Scientists have found after studying the plasma of 149 people who had Coronavirus, around 80% of people produced only tiny amounts of antibodies.

A third had undetectable levels.”

Mine was a negative, despite having had many of the classic symptoms and close contact with a case.
Bah humbug. Perhaps I have awesome T cells.