Antibody test from imperial college London

[EasterIssland]

Hi
Has anyone else had a letter from the imperial - nhs related with the study they’re doing for covid antibodies ? Got it this week and had to say before today whether I wanted to take part. They want to know what % of uk has had it.

I’m 99% sure I’ll be negative but son and husband and my family were ill with flu in the last Xmas and I had 37-37.8 and not dry cough in April so wonder whether I’ll have had it but not had any symptoms.

I got the same letter. I registered for the antibody test. It arrived this week and was negative. I was very ill in February with some, not all, the symptoms. I work with GPs and anecdotally they have had patients with all the symptoms that still tested negative. It’s an odd one for sure!

More and more scientists are saying there's lots more to immunity and non susceptibility to Covid than antibodies, which is why 70-80% of people don't get it even when exposed.

@TheDennisSystem a friend was working IN the hospital in the covid floor. She was really ill with all the symptoms. She tested negative. If she hasn’t had it not sure how I’m going to have it :)
Was it via a blood sample yours? I’ll have to ask my dh to do it for me not sure I’ll be able to do it :)

But yes agree that we might be more inmune to it by other way and that’s why we have not all had it

@EasterIssland it was a finger prick, like when testing blood for diabetes, not too bad. I am not surprised to hear of your friends negative result though

There is the theory that if the infection was fought off by T cells then it wouldn’t show on the antibody test. (I think?)

Yep t/cells might fight it off, which means you could have had it but the antibody test is negative. www.thesun.co.uk/news/11866363/negative-antibody-test-doesnt-mean-havent-had-coronavirus/

My DS (NHS) had the worst cough in March. 7 days later I started having strange symptoms, mild temperature (38 dropping to 37.4) headache, earache, loss of smell. My DH started being very unwell 5 days after me. He was eventually hospitalised and tested positive for the virus. DS had the antibody test and was negative, the majority of his work colleagues have been positive. I'm back at work now, primary school, and my boss thinks I should have the antibody test. I'm not sure it's worth it!

I wouid love to be invited on this!

Not only am I curious whether I've had it (DS never tested but probably had it, DH too, others in house felt a bit off but didn't really get ill) but I wouid also like tomdo my bit to further the understanding of the spread and perhaps of the presence and duration (if they re-test) of antibodies.

Surveillance which improves our understanding of he nature of immunity from Covid is good no to be really important

I don’t think I would bother paying for a test

But I’m awaiting results of one taken by NHS. I’m a haematology patient, self-reporting exposure to a probable case, and mild symptoms after (no temperature). So they’re quite interested in whether I have antibodies even several months on (this was just before lockdown)

It’ll make no difference to the level of precaution I need to take against further exposure (shielded condition) but any info on whether people with very wonky immune systems form any sort of response is apparently valuable

‘I’ve done that test and came back negative. I hope my (slightly) sore finger helps in some way.

I did one this week. I am pretty sure I had it 14 weeks ago. The antibody test was negative. I read somewhere they don’t really know how the tests function 5 weeks post infection. I will see if I can find the link.

www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/25/antibody-test-accuracy-lower-during-first-14-days-of-covid-19-symptoms

Negative here as well

Maybe this is the real source of man flu.
They get hit badly but dont keep recatching things.
So women and kids constantly fight things off. But it's why there are so few older men. (Other other indiginous coronoaviruses and infections kill them off).
Maybe why men too dont care about hygiene if they dont catch as many colds etc.(a lot die of heart attacks etc which apparently happen after flu too. ).
Mayhe men will push for more vaccines to other 'common colds' in an effort to live as long as women

Can the test for T cells response?

If we say for a moment that antibodies were found to offer at least temporary and/or partial immunity, would that mean that if you fought off using T cell response you would not have any immunity? Would it even be an indication of how you'd respond if you caught it again?

Also, if someone tested positive while infected but later had a negative antibody test, could that mean a number of things including....they have antibodies but the test failed to detect them, or they had them but they have gone or are no longer detectable (in which case would they be any use?), or they had the virus but fought it off without producing antibodies?

So confused.

Also if you don't get much/any immunity or you fought it off with T cells would be interesting to know whether they think it's likely you'd do the same again if re infected

Having seen a news segment on this, it seemed that the consultant oncologist they were talking too was suggesting that T cells could provide immunity, that they do have a memory for certain viruses. Whether we can test for that particular T cell response wasn't mentioned, but they did say that those who have had covid but tested negative for antibodies did in many cases have raised T cell levels indicating that they may have recently fought it off with T cell involvement.

I also heard from a friend who is a medic that in his workplace, of those who swabbed positive for the virus during infection, it's pretty much 50/50 on antibody results.

I struggle with the idea that as many as 70-80% don't catch it when exposed due to some kind of prior immunity, I hope so but if the level of immunity was that high it seems unlikely that R would be so high in the absence of special measures, and that it would spread at the rate it does if left to its own devices.

Thanks for that @Inkpaperstars

Lets hope.

Hmmm very interesting about the T cells. They're the cells that produce cytokines. We've heard about 'cytokine storms' that can kill people but I am thinking if a normal amount are produced on getting a virus then they could eliminate it. There's something called 'memory T cells' that are formed after an infection, and they remember previously encountered antigens, can do so for a long time.

This short article helped me grasp some of the concepts:

teachmephysiology.com/immune-system/cells-immune-system/t-cells/

I had the Imperial test, it was negative.

www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/health-53248660

There has just been a study in sweden about this. For every 1 person who had antibodies 2 had T Cells. Says upto 30% could have had the virus

30% more on top of what we know from antibody tests I mean

This is really interesting. My dad who is shielding has just done the test and it has come back positive. This is quite a shock as he doesn’t remember a time when he felt unwell despite recovering from cancer and being 73. Anyone know how reliable the results are?