What you must know about COVID-19 antibody testing?

What you must know about COVID-19 antibody testing?

We all know how the entire world is grappling with the novel coronavirus. Unavailability of vaccines, increasing number of infections, restricted movement, incessant lockdowns is creating an environment of uncertainty which is adding to the pangs of life and livelihood.The urgent need to improve public policies in response to the COVID-19 pandemic has compelled the regulatory bodies for the implementation of antibody detection tests for COVID-19 to assess the Sero-conversion rate in the country

Do you know enough about how antibody tests can help in the fight against the pandemic? Let's have a look at what exactly is this test and how it can prove useful at this crucial time.

What is the COVID-19 antibody test?

Your body makes antibodies on being exposed to infection-causing agents commonly known as antigens. These antibodies help fight off the infection and protect against reinfection by the same disease again. COVID-19 antibody tests will tell you if you were previously infected with the coronavirus and your immune system responded well. This also gives an indication towards possible immunity (however extensive studies are still underway to substantiate this hypothesis) The antibody test is not a confirmatory test for detecting active COVID 19 infection.

What is the need of the COVID-19 antibody test?

• For individuals: This test helps to find out if you were infected with the virus causing COVID-19 in the past and now have antibodies against it.
• For healthcare personnels: It helps to find if someone had contracted the virus but remained asymptomatic. This will give health officials an idea of how widespread the virus is.
• For people having COVID-19: Another benefit of this test is that people who have antibodies (specifically IgG) against the virus may be eligible to donate their plasma (the liquid part of the blood). This plasma can help treat those who are currently ill with the virus.
   

What is the difference between the Coronavirus swab test and Antibody test?

• A coronavirus swab test (RT-PCR) also called the diagnostic test helps identify the active virus in samples such as swab from the inside of your nose. It is the gold standard confirmatory test for detecting coronavirus infection.
• An antibody test is a simple blood test. It indicates past exposure to coronavirus infection and development of antibody against the virus. It may not show if you have an active virus in your body causing COVID-19 infection. Hence this is not used as a confirmatory detection test for COVID 19.
   

Who should take the antibody test?

You are a good candidate to be tested if you fall into the following category:

• Previously infected with the virus and have fully recovered.
• Anyone who is not currently symptomatic can get the test done.
• Had COVID-19 symptoms but did not get tested for the active infection.

Frontline workers like healthcare, police officers, sanitization, reporters, fire fighters etc.

Where to get the COVID-19 antibody test done?

Metropolis Healthcare, India’s leading diagnostic companies has launched the COVID-19 antibody test to detect antibodies produced post infection. Following steps are taken to conduct the COVID-19 antibody test:

• Trained phlebotomist takes your blood sample with full safety and hygiene, which is then sent to the Lab for processing.
• Total antibody is done in Roche analyzers whereas IgG antibody is processed in Abbott and Diasorin platforms by both ELISA and CLIA .
• Expert scientific officers make sure that every sample is processed thoroughly to give you accurate results. You can get the results on the same day itself.
   

Metropolis COVID-19 antibody test for corporates

With the country heading towards the phase of unlocking, many corporates have started resuming their operations. At the same time, there must be a safe-back-to-work strategy to protect the health of employees.

To ensure safety, Metropolis brings you the first step of getting back to work with their COVID-19 Antibody test for corporates. Apart from the basic antibody test, Metropolis has developed 4 packages to suit employees with different health parameters. The test is available at various locations across India.

Metropolis is proud to launch the COVID-19 antibody test which will play an important role in getting people to work. Want to know if your location is covered?

Check here

The data from these tests can also help public health officials understand how widespread the outbreak is and could support the development of treatments and vaccines for COVID-19.

How to interpret the test results?

A) If you test positive

If you test positive for COVID-19 antibodies, it means your body was exposed to coronavirus in the past and you developed antibodies.

A positive result might also mean that you have some immunity against the virus causing COVID-19. But there are not enough studies to confirm how strong the immunity is or how long it might last.

B) If you test negative

If you test negative for COVID-19 antibodies, it means you have not been infected. But there are chances of a false negative test as well i.e., you could still have a current infection. This is because it takes a minimum of 14 days after infection for your body to make antibodies against the COVID-19 virus. And you tested before 14 days of getting infected. It may happen in case of asymptomatic carriers.

There are chances you could still get sick if you get exposed to the virus. So people testing negative for antibodies shall maintain all necessary precautions such as cleanliness and social distancing as much as possible.

Can you get re-infected if you have antibodies for it?

In India, till now there are no reported cases of reinfection. However, there are no studies yet to confirm if antibodies (specifically IgG) against COVID-19 offer long-term protection against reinfection. Some data suggests that once you have antibodies, you are likely to have some protection. As there is still a level of uncertainty, hence it is advisable to continue practicing prevention measures for COVID-19.

• Maintain social distancing. Staying 6 feet apart is considered safe.
• Washing your hands with any soap and water for at least 20 seconds.
• Using sanitizer whenever you are outside with at least 60% alcohol content.
• Avoid touching your mouth, nose, and eyes.
• Sanitizing packages, groceries etc. that you get from outside.
• Having a good balanced diet to enhance immunity.
• Indulging in some form of exercise or yoga.

Stay safe and stay home in order to curb the rising coronavirus pandemic. Nothing lasts forever and this too shall pass!