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New Abbott SARS-CoV-2 antibody test has 99.90% specificity and 100% sensitivity

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Re: New Abbott SARS-CoV-2 antibody test has 99.90% specificity and 100% sensitivity

#161

Post by feyman_r »

Animats wrote: post #133

This is encouraging. Two negative viral tests and a positive antibody test, and people should be able to get an ID that says they're exempt from movement and mask restrictions. (To discourage faking this, getting that ID should also turn eligibility for the Emergency Care Benefit, since they can work safely.) There's still argument over how long immunity lasts, but it has to be at least two or three months, or there…

>>> ..they're exempt from movement and mask restrictions ...

There's a negative repercussion of people around such folks getting a false-impression that masks are not a serious need (if this is in question, that's a different discussion). It also creates a possibility of visible 'haves' and 'have-nots', which can cause trouble.

I think having uniform messaging for movement/masks irrespective of antibody presence will remove variability in response from people.

Re: New Abbott SARS-CoV-2 antibody test has 99.90% specificity and 100% sensitivity

#162

Post by sanxiyn »

xyhopguy wrote: post #131
weaksauce wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

different strains?

afaik there havent we havent observed major functional mutations in the virus

We haven't confirmed functional mutations. One of currently known mutations (D614G being a prime suspect) can be functional and we can't rule out the possibility.

Re: New Abbott SARS-CoV-2 antibody test has 99.90% specificity and 100% sensitivity

#163

Post by vikramkr »

elil17 wrote: post #108

The Quest website warns that having the antibodies does not necessarily mean you are immune. Is it really likely that reinfection is possible less than a year after initial infection, or is that just something they have to write as a disclaimer?

We just don't know right now. Some antibodies could work better than others, so for some people it could mean yes and for others no. Could be different for symptomatic vs asymptomatic patients. Some antibodies could make the disease worse through ADE. Immunity is probably conferred for at least a couple months since we dont see a huge number of reinfection, but we dont know whether it trails off after a year or two or goes below an important concentration threshold since there physically hasn't been enough time since the start to measure immunity out to a couple years. In general, you're probably fine, but maybe not, and the test could also be giving you a false positive.

Re: New Abbott SARS-CoV-2 antibody test has 99.90% specificity and 100% sensitivity

#165

Post by pnako »

bb2018 wrote: post #156
shawabawa3 wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe DNA studies have linked the origin to bats in the area of wuhan

That isn't true. The bats that it mostly likely come from are in China - but in Southern China about 1000 miles from Wuhan.

In Wuhan is the lab that was researching the virus from those bats.

Re: New Abbott SARS-CoV-2 antibody test has 99.90% specificity and 100% sensitivity

#166

Post by erik_seaberg »

Animats wrote: post #133

This is encouraging. Two negative viral tests and a positive antibody test, and people should be able to get an ID that says they're exempt from movement and mask restrictions. (To discourage faking this, getting that ID should also turn eligibility for the Emergency Care Benefit, since they can work safely.) There's still argument over how long immunity lasts, but it has to be at least two or three months, or there…

> they can work safely

Maybe. If only 1% of your employees could work safely, it's probably not worth opening the doors and paying them to try to get something done in the absence of the other 99%.

Re: New Abbott SARS-CoV-2 antibody test has 99.90% specificity and 100% sensitivity

#167

Post by vikramkr »

s1t5 wrote: post #64
jariel wrote: post #52

'Specificity and Sensitivity' are new words that are now going to enter the public consciousness with regards to testing. Before Iraq War 2, in 2003, absolutely nobody knew the difference between a 'Shia' or 'Sunni' Muslim, and then it became more common knowledge. It's neat to see how these events shape awareness. Now every time a Nurse does a test, people will ask "What's the specificity?!" which can be a good or b…

Specificity and sensitivity feel really poorly chosen and difficult to remember. You could swap their definitions and the names of the terms would make just as much sense. I much prefer true positive rate and true negative rate.

Those named could be confusing to. True positive rate = .95 could be interpreted as, if you get a positive result, that's a 5% chance of a false positive, when the percent chance of the test being a false positive given a positive result is actually a function of the true positive percentage in the population and not innate to the test.

Re: New Abbott SARS-CoV-2 antibody test has 99.90% specificity and 100% sensitivity

#168

Post by koheripbal »

charliea0 wrote: post #33

It is refreshing to read a headline about an antibody test that conveys useful information about specificity and sensitivity rates. This really helps to inform about how useful a test could be for serological surveys. Well done Hacker News.

Prepare for this page to be flooded with meetoo anecdotes.

Re: New Abbott SARS-CoV-2 antibody test has 99.90% specificity and 100% sensitivity

#169

Post by vikramkr »

bb88 wrote: post #73

As someone who lives in Boise, I'm angry: 1. People had to buy this test. It wasn't free. That means 2. whoever bought the test were guinea pigs in this study. And 3. That fact wasn't being made clear in Crush the Curve. LabCorp should refund all the tests in Boise immediately.

Nobody paid to be a part of this clinical trial. That's highly unethical. People were paying for a different test.

Re: New Abbott SARS-CoV-2 antibody test has 99.90% specificity and 100% sensitivity

#170

Post by ridgeguy »

chime wrote: post #50
cerebral_oasis wrote: post #38

I took this antibody test through LabCorp on Friday and tested positive. I have been in strict (see: paranoid) isolation with one other person since March 7 and haven't felt sick or anything close to it since then. I did have what I thought was a strange flu/cold early February with a sore throat, post-nasal drip, wildly varying body temperature, and lower back pains. In hindsight those are COVID-19 symptoms. the per…

Did your doctor have to refer you to LabCorp? I read that LabCorp doesn't want any walk-ins.

I just went through the signup. Took 8 minutes and did not require a referral.
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