Covid19 Antibody Testing

With all of the information and misinformation about coronavirus and corresponding tests, it has been a challenging feat to properly communicate with everyone individually. Here is some information which will hopefully provide some clarity.

The pandemic has been caused by a new/novel strain of coronavirus. The actual virus has been name SARS-CoV-2. SARS is an acronym for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, CoV stands for CoronaVirus, and '2' means that is the second virus of this type. The first outbreak was in February 2003 and commonly known as SARS.

COVID19 is the name of the disease caused by SARS-CoV2. COVID19 stands for Coronavirus Disease 2019. Think of the measles disease that is caused by Rubeola virus or AIDS caused by HIV.

Tests that are currently available in hospitals are the swab tests, taking a sample from the throat or nasal cavity, and looks at the genetic material to see if you have an ACTIVE infection of SARS-CoV-2.

Antibody tests determine if your body has created a response to a microbe, virus, invader, etc. thereby indicating if you have already experienced a viral event. Antibodies help the immune system fight off the virus, some antibodies get produced right away to fight the immediate needs of the body (Immunoglobulin M (IgM)), and other antibodies are made so that it can discard the invader should it appear again (Immunoglobulin G (IgG)) and remains detectable long term. IgG antibodies give protection against re-infection.

I will state that we are in unprecedented times, and are still operating in a world of unknowns in regards to this particular coronavirus. In all areas of medicine, we are trying our best to understand and help as much as we can, as soon as we can.

The FDA green lighted the test we ordered under the Emergency Use Authorization Act. These tests that are coming were used in a study of 720 patients, and have just been confirmed here in the US at 5 hospitals to properly identify past Covid infections. There are no “FDA Approved” tests at this time, as that takes years to undergo proper medical testing. With that stated, no test is perfect; however the tests we will have to offer have proven to be 97% sensitive true positives and 92% specific true negatives with an overall 97% accuracy rate in the study of 720, which is rather remarkable.

The blood blot tests coming to our office reveal if you have SARS-CoV-2 IgMs or IgGs. It can be helpful to know if you have these antibodies as we continue to unveil facts about this virus like, how many people in our community/herd have already been exposed to the virus, are there co-infections that may develop, are we suspectible to reinfection? If you had cold/flu like symptoms, or been exposed to a positive Covid-19 case in the past months it might be able to confirm if you had the SARS-CoV-2 infection already.

The Coronacheck test is sold by 20/20 Bioresponse located in MD, US, and is a finger prick test that gives results in 15 mins. You can schedule a 15 minute appt online, or schedule a regular appointment and have your test completed while you are getting treated. You will receive a superbill detailing your results, and a brief explanation of IgG and IgM antibodies. If you would like a copy of the test insert explanation and specifications, we are happy to provide you a copy.

The very best thing you can do to avoid infection is to stay home, take care of yourself with regular sleep cycles, healthy food, decrease stress, and use herbs and supplements if needed