What Does Anti-Body Test Really Tell Us About Covid-19?

COVID-19 pandemic has pushed scientists and doctors all around the world to carefully carry out and analyze the working of the COVID-19 antibody tests that help to determine the presence of antibodies in a person’s body. Antibodies are a specific type of proteins that helps the body to fight and ward off the disease. Antibodies start appearing in a person’s body after they are fully recovered from the COVID-19 thus providing the immunity that helps their body to resist and protect against getting the disease again.

As people across the world are getting used to the new normal around and are stepping out of the house, a lot of them are resorting to take ‘antibody’ tests to understand whether they have ‘immunity’ against the virus.

Antibody tests are used for the examination of the presence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19. These tests are done by taking a sample of your blood usually via a finger prick or by drawing blood from vein of an arm, determining whether you had a past infection of coronavirus. Antibody tests also called as serology test tells whether your body’s immune system has responded to the corona virus that entered your body.

An antibody test doesn’t tell whether you are currently infected with the virus. Its aim is to determine whether you had COVID-19 sometime in the past. The strength of the antibodies in your body depends on various factors like severity of the disease, age or pre-existing health conditions. Antibodies can stay in your body for several weeks even after recovery hence this test is not done to diagnose an active corona virus infection. In such cases, diagnostic tests are done.

Antibody tests are important as they help the doctors to get a better insight about the spread and the effect of the novel corona virus. It helps them to understand who are immune to the virus as well as to come up with an effective cure.

Another important aspect of the antibody test is the convalescent plasma produced in a fully recovered person’s blood which is said to be a probable cure for COVID-19. This plasma from the cured people is transmitted to the existing ill patients to boost their ability to fight the virus thus helping in speedy recovery.

After doing the test, if you are tested ‘positive’, it means you have had corona virus in the past and have some immunity against it. However, how strong the immunity is or for how long cannot be determined just by the positive result.

A ‘negative’ test report indicates that you might have not come in contact with the virus or you might have been infected but the extent of the virus was not as much as required for the production of antibodies.

Timing and type of the antibody test also make a huge difference in the test result. Suppose you test a bit early when the antibodies are in the building stage, the test may not detect any antibodies. Hence, it is recommended to opt for an antibody test after 14 days of visible symptoms.

Antibody tests are not considered to be fully reliable because even if your body shows presence of the antibodies it does not necessarily mean that you have an immunity against re-infection. The development of antibodies in your body may take few weeks after the exposure to the virus. It is still unknown whether presence of antibodies prevent you from getting infected again.

Before seeking a COVID-19 antibody test, contact your healthcare professional and discuss the entire situation in detail. Let them know of any symptoms you are experiencing and thoroughly discuss your condition. Pathkind Labs offer qualitative COVID-19 Total Antibody Test as well as COVID-19 IgG Antibody test that helps to determine if you had any recent exposure to the virus. Along with medical expertise, our doctors are highly trained to follow all the safety protocols.

Along with medical assistance, make sure you follow rules like self- quarantine and social-distancing to avoid infections. It is of utmost importance to follow the guidelines issued by WHO as well as your local authorities to prevent the spread of corona virus.