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FDA just cleared a $20 Covid-19 antibody test

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Re: FDA just cleared a $20 Covid-19 antibody test

#111

Post by ethbro »

jimmcslim wrote: post #66
erentz wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One reason people seem to be missing for why antibody tests are very useful is it will allow us to confirm those that are now immune. We can’t get this from the RNA testing because it’s primarily being used on only symptomatic people at the time they have symptoms (and then only if they can get the test which typically means severe symptoms) But if we start to test widely for antibodies we can start to clear people f…

> I don’t know if this is something that anyone official is talking about yet, but it seems like it should be. I agree. I think this will greatly help with people's mental state, etc, plus they can help family and friends who are under quarantine. The question of how long immunity lasts, is it effective, etc is still a bit open. Also, how in a Western democracy do we distinguish (from the point of view of law enforce…

Perhaps requiring people to sew a red-colored letter to their clothing?

Re: FDA just cleared a $20 Covid-19 antibody test

#112

Post by dharma1 »

eps wrote: post #84
absherwin wrote: post #45

This is an antibody test which will only be positive days after the onset of symptoms. This is principally useful for several purposes: 1. Figuring out who to isolate in hospitals if the RNA test isn't available in sufficient quantity 2. Understanding who has already recovered from COVID-19 and is thus immune with all that implies in terms of inability to spread the disease and reduced need for PPE 3. Enabling us to…

Hold on. Has it been confirmed that recovered people do in fact develop immunity?

rhesus monkeys do - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.03.13.990226v1....

Re: FDA just cleared a $20 Covid-19 antibody test

#113

Post by burtonator »

absherwin wrote: post #45

This is an antibody test which will only be positive days after the onset of symptoms. This is principally useful for several purposes: 1. Figuring out who to isolate in hospitals if the RNA test isn't available in sufficient quantity 2. Understanding who has already recovered from COVID-19 and is thus immune with all that implies in terms of inability to spread the disease and reduced need for PPE 3. Enabling us to…

I'm interested in the frontline response here as if you already have immunity that person can serve in "risky" positions like working at airports, etc.

Re: FDA just cleared a $20 Covid-19 antibody test

#114

Post by Aperocky »

teruakohatu wrote: post #73
gridspy wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bear in mind in relation to immunity -- "Positive results may be due to past or present infection with non-SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus strains, such as coronavirus HKU1, NL63, OC43, or 229E."

Slightly off topic question: do people who have been infected with those varieties have any sort of immunity against covid-19?

Potentially.

If true, we might rush to get everyone cold and then be immune to coronavirus.

Re: FDA just cleared a $20 Covid-19 antibody test

#115

Post by teddyvangogh »

teruakohatu wrote: post #73
gridspy wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bear in mind in relation to immunity -- "Positive results may be due to past or present infection with non-SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus strains, such as coronavirus HKU1, NL63, OC43, or 229E."

Slightly off topic question: do people who have been infected with those varieties have any sort of immunity against covid-19?

No immunity. but they develop antibodies. More info here:

"FDA is working on treatment of coronavirus with blood from recovered patients"

"The method — essentially harvesting virus-fighting antibodies from the blood of previously infected patients — dates back more than a century"

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/fda-working-treat...

Re: FDA just cleared a $20 Covid-19 antibody test

#116

Post by gridlockd »

dogma1138 wrote: post #79
lisper wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This will make it easier to tell if a symptomatic person has COVID or something else. But it won't help with early detection, which is what is most urgently needed.

Early detection is utterly irrelevant at this point it’s endemic at most places now.

Exhaustive testing and selective isolation would be better than lockdowns, even if the virus is endemic. Testing is the bottleneck.

Re: FDA just cleared a $20 Covid-19 antibody test

#119

Post by acqq »

gridspy wrote: post #48
absherwin wrote: post #45

This is an antibody test which will only be positive days after the onset of symptoms. This is principally useful for several purposes: 1. Figuring out who to isolate in hospitals if the RNA test isn't available in sufficient quantity 2. Understanding who has already recovered from COVID-19 and is thus immune with all that implies in terms of inability to spread the disease and reduced need for PPE 3. Enabling us to…

Bear in mind in relation to immunity -- "Positive results may be due to past or present infection with non-SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus strains, such as coronavirus HKU1, NL63, OC43, or 229E."

From the last paragraph before conclusion of their article:

"Certainly, this test cannot confirm virus presence, only provide evidence of recent infection, but it provides an important immunological evidence for physicians to make the correct diagnosis along with other tests and to start treatment of patients. In addition, possible cross-reactivity with other coronaviruses and flu viruses were not studied, and the change level of antibody was not compared in the different stages of SARS-CoV-2 infection."

Re: FDA just cleared a $20 Covid-19 antibody test

#120

Post by dmurray »

istorical wrote: post #106
dmurray wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's ok to take that on faith. If you recover from the virus, it's because your immune system knows how to kill the virus. We don't know of any immune system interactions that don't work that way. There's a chance that immunity is short-lived, or that there are multiple strains of the virus which do not produce equivalent antibodies, but 100% of scientists will believe you develop immunity of some sort.

> We don't know of any immune system interactions that don't work that way. Unfortunately not the case. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antibody-dependent_enhancement But the good news is that we don't have any knowledge of coronaviruses that get worse the second time around because of ADE.

Isn't that a case of having multiple strains of the virus, where recovering from one strain still provides immunity to that strain? The gimmick here is that it decreases resistance to the other strain, possibly after some time.
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