COVID19 Antibody tests and the current state of play

[Jm954]

The image shows COVID19 in yellow entering a cell.

Touted as society’s way out of widespread lock downs, scientists say the true potential of these rapidly developed tests is still unknown and none have proved to be completely reliable and accurate to date.

Antibody tests have captured the world’s attention for their potential to help life return to normal by revealing who has been exposed, and might now be immune, to the new coronavirus.

Dozens of biotech companies and research laboratories have rushed to produce the blood tests. And governments around the world have bought millions of kits, in the hope that they could guide decisions on when to relax social-distancing measures and get people back to work. Some have even suggested that the tests could be used as an ‘immunity passport’, giving the owner clearance to interact with others again.

But as with most new technologies, there are signs that the promises of COVID-19 antibody tests have been oversold, and their challenges underestimated. Kits have flooded the market, but most aren’t accurate enough to confirm whether an individual has been exposed to the virus.

Early studies in people who have recovered from COVID-19 have detected three kinds of SARS-CoV-2-specific antibody, and manufacturers and research institutes have developed tests that target these antibodies.

Much, much more here from this Nature article dated 18th April 2020:

nature.com/articles/d41586-...

Jackie

[cartwheels]

This is the problem as covid 19 is part of the Coronvirus family the tests are finding it near impossible to separate the two accurately so the tests are not reliable enough they will help but ultimately it will be a combination of anti virals , vaccines and population exposure immunity of the herd that ends this

[Jm954 Administrator in reply to cartwheels]

Not just 2 Cartwheels, I think there are several different members of the Corona virus family. The SARS COVID and this one are different in that they have the potential to cause Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS)in a significant number of people.

Jackie

[Newdawn Administrator]

This concerns me;

‘Scientists in China have discovered more than 30 mutations of the new coronavirus, which they say may partly explain why it has been more deadly in certain parts of the world.’

‘The most aggressive strains created up to 270 times as much viral load as the least potent type, the scientists found.’

news.sky.com/story/coronavi...

There’s some suggestion that the most virulent strains are to be found in parts of Europe explaining the higher death rate.

Newdawn

[db601 in reply to Newdawn]

Jackie & Newdawn - Thanks for this discussion.

The 2 strains from the Bristol UK lab discussed in the podcast I referenced in an earlier post - are not relevant if 30 have been sequenced. It would seem - Vaccines are not to be seen in the next 18 months.

30 mutations - the article states they were revealed from

*ultra deep sequencing*

Is this the same as the new *clonoSEQ* panel (step up from FLOW)

or a reference to a DNA/RNA sequencing? I’m beginning to blur -

Thanks for your input.

~ Diana