by Morley Evans
The FDA has approved the first antibody test for COVID-19.
Several groups are also working on a blood test that would show whether someone once had COVID-19, and possibly whether they’re immune.
These types of tests could help officials discover who’s no longer at risk for developing the disease.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has just approved the first antibody test for COVID-19 on Thursday.
The approval comes as a number of academic laboratories and medical companies are developing blood tests to help identify people who have contracted SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
These tests could potentially identify those with immunity to the virus. This would enable healthcare workers, first responders, and other essential workers who are no longer at risk to return to work sooner.
What is an “immunity” test?
There are two main types of COVID-19 tests.
Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing looks for the presence of the virus’ genetic material (RNA) on a nasal or throat swab. These tests can tell whether someone has an active infection.
The other type is serological testing. This type of blood test looks for the presence of antibodies produced by the immune system against SARS-CoV-2.
Antibodies help the body fight infection and are specific to a virus, bacteria, or other pathogens.
“If [COVID-19] antibodies are present when you run the [serological] test, that means [a person] had the infection in the past,” said Dr Juan Dumois, a pediatric infectious diseases’ physician at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital, in a Newswise expert panel.
Also, “those antibodies can be present in someone who may have been infected but never even had any symptoms,” he added.
People with weakened immune systems, though, may not make these antibodies properly.
After transmission, it can take several days for the body to produce antibodies to a virus. That makes serological tests less useful than viral RNA tests for diagnosing someone with COVID-19.
But antibodies can last for a long time in the body, which makes them ideal for identifying whether someone had once contracted the virus — even if it was weeks ago.
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