COVID-19 Antibody Test: How it Works and Who Should Get Tested How long do antibodies protect you after you have had COVID-19?

 

Many Peoples contracted coven 19. Since march 2020 the vast majority have recovered because of antibodies but how long do those antibodies last.

It's a really big question right now. After you get an infection, usually you have a good immune response to the infection to fight it off, and you can measure that immune response by doing a blood test and measuring the antibody response. And that helps to know if you've been exposed, whether you've been sick or not, because we know that many infections, people are asymptomatic. So these antibody tests are now available. The problem, the challenge with these antibody tests is that their accuracy has not been pinned down very well, so we're not exactly sure how accurate they are, and on an individual level, it may not make any difference because measuring the antibodies will not tell you if you're protected or not.

So maybe you were infected otherwise you weren't, but we do not know if meaning you are not visiting get reinfection the subsequent few weeks or months or years, we just do not have that information. For folks that are just interested in it, it just doesn't have any meaning. Everybody thinks that they'd a bit tickle in their nose which, you know, some months ago, which must are it.

You know, and what we're finding is about 4 to five of individuals in our area are infected within the past, so it is a very small percentage. And having that antibody test, whether or not it's positive, doesn't prove that you're invulnerable or that you're resistant to getting infected. It does not imply you'll stop wearing a mask or that you're unengaged to go around and do high-risk activities. All it'd suggest is that you've got had infection, but we do not know if you're protected because you've had infection.

Where these antibody tests slot in well are for studies, for population studies, to determine what percentage of a population maybe are exposed and infected, so it's useful for that sort of a scientific study. They're also useful in very specific circumstances in order that we all know that children may experience a particular syndrome after being exposed to coronavirus, but this happens three to four weeks later after infection where the nasal swab test might not be positive, but the antibody test can be useful.

And then the third place where these antibody tests are useful is that blood banks are screening donors to work out if they need antibodies because there's some suggestion that perhaps convalescent plasma, getting the plasma of individuals who have already got been infected, by infusing that into acutely ill people, it should help them. this is often being studied, it’s not proven yet, but that's something that’s being actively studied. So those are the most reasons to urge an antibody test.