Anyone else confident they had covid-19 but got a negative antibody test?

[Bubbinsmakesthree]

This has probably been asked somewhere already so sorry for duplicating...

Has anyone else had a negative antibody test despite being sure they had virus?

Based on symptoms/timing I am as confident as I can be that I had covid-19 at start of the outbreak at the end of March.

I had an antibody test in August and the results were negative.

Anyone else in the same boat...I’m curious as to how common this is?

It's really common. They did some tests in Spain on people known to have had COVID and only 12-15% or so had antibodies after 3 months.

I could have written the opening post myself. Hubby and i were both ill, could have ticked every symptom. I dont have asthma or any breathing problems, but i struggled to breathe. Lasted 7 days, but fatigue and dizzy spells lasted weeks. Got checked for antibodies in august and both tested magative.

The antibody tests are so far not very specific, so a quarter of the time maybe, they report false even if there are antibodies there.
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/893433/Evaluation_of_Euroimmun_SARS_CoV_2_ELISA_IgG__1_.pdf
We also do not know how sensitive they are at lower levels of antibodies - probably not very given they're not very specific as that's a normal reason for specific-ness to go down.

So, antibody tests are probably pretty pointless, they don't tell you anything.

Yeah me. I was really ill in march/april, had 2 months off work..really bad cough, chest pain and breathlessness, low oxygen and I couldnt even get up and down the stairs I was so fatigued and breathless. My breathing is still not good now and my asthma is much worse than previously, Ive had ++ consultations with gp etc who are sure I had covid as was pretty classic but i had a negative antibody test.

Yes 100% sure I had it and negative antibody

Thanks everyone - links to studies are especially helpful. I’ve had ‘long Covid’ i am sure of it but since negative antibody test I’ve had friends and family acting sceptical about whether I was ever ill at all...grrr!

Yes. I had textbook symptoms in March and negative antibody test at the end of May. Luckily I don't have long covid other than a heart rate which occasionally goes sky high.

I had severe symptoms for 3 weeks in April. Negative antibody test June. I have a lot of NHS clinical colleagues in same situation, were unable to access tests while symptomatic for one reason or another. I dont believe the antibody tests are reliable.

I wasn't 100% sure but in mid-March I started with a feeling like I was breathing through gauze and an almost continuous need to clear my throat and burning in my trachea as well as a fever for a day. I would get short of breath walking and the symptoms, although mild, lasted weeks. At the same time my DC had a very high temp for a week and lost sense of taste for two days.

I had a negative antibody test two weeks ago. I'm not really sure what to think.

We weren't tested at the time but we were pretty sure. Hubby got invited to an antibody test to donate plasma and he was positive but his levels had dropped dramatically by the second time he went and can no longer donate. They had said he had a huge amount originally too

You can't be 100% sure (even with a positive test as even then there are a few false positives-although not as many as false negatives).
There have been illnesses that present the same for years. I could swear I had the identical symptoms in 1997.

However they are saying the antibodies wear out after about 3 months (or less in some cases) so it's positive.

I'm fairly confident I had it back at the end of March. One day of sore throat and diarrhoea followed by 10 days of 38.8 fever, loss of smell and taste and slight breathlessness but felt otherwise fine, wouldn't have batted an eyelid and would have gone about my normal life at any other time but self isolated just in case

Negative antibody test just over 3 months later. I was talking to one of the consultants at work the other day though and he said they've had loads of people test positive or COVID but negative for antibodies so I think it's quite common

I've had CV all confirmed through testing.
Antibody test is negative.

It's not necessarily the case of false testing, but antibodies don't last forever.

My medical student daughter and all her medic housemates from this year and last, about ten people in total, have been in contact with Covid patients since June and none of them have tested positive either for antigens or antibodies.

That's good Abraid2.

My friends in NHS have had/got CV, one is still seriously ill in hospital. Another one has had this since April and keeps having to go back to hospital for organ issues that weren't a problem before getting cv.

Apparently there have been people who have had positive Corona tests who have gone on to have a negative antibody tests. I thought this was why they had decided against using them in the NHS for the public and they thought it was more about T Cells. I wanted a antibody test but never managed to get one.

@Witchend

Obviously 100% certainty isn’t possible but the likelihood of the respiratory illness I had that presented exactly like covid at the peak of an outbreak that affected nearly 1 in 5 Londoners, when half the people in my team at work and all of my immediate family also had a respiratory illness that presented exactly like covid, actually being covid must be very high indeed.

I have not had an antibody test so not a personal experience, but a nurse friend said that of her hospital colleagues who had positive tests for active covid at the time of infection, only about 50% approx have tested positive for antibodies.

It is a known fact that you can have defiitely had it and not test positive for antibodies. I think the theories are that some people fought it off using T cells, soem others may have developed antibodies but they are no longer present (or at least not enough to be detectable to the test).

I had a negative antibody test although I am pretty sure DH and DD have had it. I also know other cases where some members of the household tested positive for Covid and others never had it despite all living under the same roof. I have never really understood how this happens considering the virus is apparently so contagious especially within households. Would this be due to T cell immunity possibly?

I know lots of people who tested positive for covid and the time and negative for antibodies (as well as lots who tested positive both times and a handful who tested negative at the time but did have antibodies).

I could have written your post too OP - I was slightly comforted to read it actually

I think antibodies can usually only be detected for about 3 months after bring I'll. If you had an antibody test after that, it wouldn't have picked up any even if you had them earlier.

There is a new antibody test which is much more sensitive, even in mild disease cohorts and detecting antibodies from cases much earlier in the pandemic.

As we learn more about the virus the assays will evolve and improve in terms of sensitivity and specificity. As these new tests become more widely available you might be able to retest and confirm your suspicions.

My husband had absolutely text book symptoms around Christmas time. Even down to it almost disappearing for a few days and coming back with a vengeance for a few more days. He's a hospital doctor and had an antibody test a few months ago which was negative.

My DS has classic Covid symptoms (including anosmia before it was well known as a symptom) and XH then had something which may well have been. DD and I both had a week if feeling we were about to come down with something (in March) but didn’t really fall ill

I have a serious comorbidity so was able to have an antibody test, but not until June. It was negative

So no-one can possibly know if I had antibodies and they wore off, of if we simply hadn’t had it. There are other bugs with similar symptoms