With the Covid-19 pandemic, people are rushing to find a cure or at least something to help figure out how to slow the spread. One test that is in the works is an antibody test to see who has been exposed to Covid-19 and recovered, and to see who is most susceptible. Those who have a heightened number of antibodies that bind to Covid-19 in circulation have been exposed and recovered from the infection and they still have an increased number of antibodies from the immune response. The test could also help identify who is most susceptible to the disease by finding which populations tend to not have an antibody that binds well to the Covid-19 antigen. If their antibody can’t bind as well, then their immune response will be weaker, leaving them more vulnerable to the effects of the infection.
What these test would do is take a blood sample from a patient and test for antibodies. Most often they test for antibodies IgM and IgG and wield either positive or negative results for each. If a patient had only IgM titers, it would indicate an active infection because IgM antibodies are the first produced during an immune response. If they had IgM and IgG titers, that would indicate they were later on in an active infection because IgM is still present but IgG is also being produced. Having only IgG titers would indicate that they were infected but have since recovered because IgG lasts the longest in the blood. Without IgM, an active immune response is not being produced but the presence of IgG titers indicate that there was a prior immune response and the IgG titers are still left over from that infection. Another test can take a sample of antibodies form a patient and use the antibodies to see if they help prevent an infection, therefore telling us whether or not the patient is protected from a future infection.
While most of these test are still in the research stages, there is some promise that they will become approved for use in a clinical setting. I believe it is remarkable how fast scientists are able to produce such tests that could become very effective. In just a couple months, scientists have found tests that could effectively treat or indicate previous infection from Covid-19. I believe both types of tests are important. Obviously we want a cure for Covid-19 to treat those who are infected but it is also important to know who has been infected in the past to try and determine immunity and susceptibility. These antibody response tests seem promising and essential in understanding more about the virus and how to best combat it.
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