Talk to me about antibody testing, please

[Spryte]

What’s the latest on antibody testing?

How effective is it?  How soon can it be done?

How long after an illness is gone can it be done?

I know what the answers might have been, a few months ago but not now.  
 

Thanks!

[kokotg]

As an individual, I wouldn't trust any antibody test to give me useful information (for lots of reasons: accuracy of the test plus all the uncertainty about antibodies vs. t-cells....i.e. I wouldn't feel like I knew more about my individual risk or immunity for covid no matter what result I got from an antibody test). The better ones might be useful for getting information about a large population. Disclaimer: I took statistics a very long time ago. https://www.businessinsider.com/best-coronavirus-antibody-tests-ranked-by-accuracy-2020-7 

FWIW (which is not much) we had a mysterious long lasting illness run through our house in March, the primary symptoms of which were a very persistent dry cough and brief low grade fevers, and both my husband and I have had negative antibody tests since. Based on that I've concluded that it's fairly likely we had something else but also that I still think the timing was really weird, and I don't trust the antibody tests, so who knows? I.e. the antibody tests were pretty much a waste of time, because I also wouldn't have trusted them if they'd been positive.

[TravelingChris]

In our area they are offering free covid testing without any symptoms,  I see absolutely no need to do that.  What I really want to know for dh, one dd, ds and myself is antibody test.  My dh was travelling to CA twice in February and got mildly sick.  I got more majorly sick where it took more than one antibiotic to cure me and three weeks of increased steroids.  That was in later February to early March.  Then in mid March, dd2 got many of the symptoms of COVID- got a test and is was negative.  Got a second test administered incorrectly which also was negative.  She also got them more than five days since symptoms started which is the time the tests start to become useless.  She and ds (they share a house) then quarantined for over two weeks.  DS was mildly sick then.  He couldn't get a test under the parameters then.    

It would be helpful to all of us if we knew we had had it already.  My thinking is less that dh and I have had it and more that dd2 and dsI did but who knows?   

[Acadie]

Dd17 had exposure and Covid toes in March and dh had a month-long respiratory infection requiring inhalers. At the end of April I was intent on getting antibody testing to confirm that they indeed had Covid and had developed immunity. But I've learned that the antibody testing we currently have is useless, for several reasons:

1. There are false negatives and false positives

2. Current tests only look for certain antibodies which wane quickly after recovery (within a few weeks, possibly a couple months) 

3. The antibodies we test for may not be the most significant antibodies in conferring immunity

4. Recent research suggests cellular immunity (T cells) may be longer lasting and more significant than antibodies, but there's no test available to the public

This NYT article pretty much sums it up: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/26/health/coronvirus-antibody-tests.html?surface=home-discovery-vi-prg&fellback=false&req_id=364485260&algo=identity&imp_id=389758890&action=click&module=Science Technology&pgtype=Homepage

So if antibody testing won't tell you with any reasonable surety whether you had Covid or currently have immunity, what's the point? We all need to mask and distance anyway. If you think you or your people may have had Covid already, my thought is to use that as permission to stress less about contracting it, while still masking and distancing for the good of ourselves and others.

I do think we'll have better knowledge and better testing in the next 3-6 months. There's lots of research and lots of excellent minds focused on exactly this. But we're just not there yet. 

Edited July 27, 2020 by Acadie

[Lawyer&Mom]

My doctor didn’t recommend antibody testing for all the reasons above, but I was having bloodwork done anyway, so we decided to have me tested. For public health monitoring if nothing else.  I was negative.  Still wonder if my bizarre respiratory infection in March was COVID.  I doubt I’ll ever really know.  

[Spryte]

I had hoped to hear that antibody testing was more reliable now. Ugh.

My friends who have confirmed positive Covid (active infection for going on 4 mos now, they seem to be long haulers) are still positive for active infection, negative for antibodies.   

I did wonder how long ago one might have been sick to get a positive result though.

I don’t think it would change our behaviors one bit if we got antibody tested and found out that our family’s prolonged illness this winter, with distinct Covid symptoms, was actually Covid.  But it would very slightly ease my mind moving forward.  Part of our family’s extreme caution is that after going through a three month period in which we were all very ill this winter ... I simply don’t want to go through anything remotely similar again, much less worse. 

Edited July 27, 2020 by Spryte

[Acadie]

9 hours ago, Spryte said:

I don’t think it would change our behaviors one bit to get antibody tested and find out that our family’s prolonged illness this winter, with distinct Covid symptoms, was actually Covid.  But it would very slightly ease my mind moving forward.  Part of our family’s extreme caution is that after going through a three month period in which we were all very ill this winter ... I simply don’t want to go through anything remotely similar again, much less worse. I 

 

I hear you--sounds excruciating to live through and frightening to wonder if it could happen again. Not that this really means anything, but if it walks and talks like a duck...my guess is Covid did run through your household and that you have some immunity.

I know so many people who had the worst respiratory illness of their lives this winter, but tested negative for the virus or antibodies. Dd17's boyfriend was very, very ill for a month this winter with multiple ER visits, and tested negative for Covid and both strains of flu. I didn't share this with her, but I was worried about whether he'd make it. 

I think the issue is not that there are several mysterious new viruses going around, but that our Covid testing is a work in progress. 

[Spryte]

20 minutes ago, Acadie said:

 

I hear you--sounds excruciating to live through and frightening to wonder if it could happen again. Not that this really means anything, but if it walks and talks like a duck...my guess is Covid did run through your household and that you have some immunity.

I know so many people who had the worst respiratory illness of their lives this winter, but tested negative for the virus or antibodies. Dd17's boyfriend was very, very ill for a month this winter with multiple ER visits, and tested negative for Covid and both strains of flu. I didn't share this with her, but I was worried about whether he'd make it. 

I think the issue is not that there are several mysterious new viruses going around, but that our Covid testing is a work in progress. 

Yes, I think our testing is imperfect.  
 

Thank goodness your DD’s boyfriend pulled through it,  how scary!  

I have been somewhat hesitant to say or think, “Maybe we had Covid!” because it was early on, and the time line might not fit.  It started Dec 1, then after a European work trip, started/continued through Feb.  But the symptoms mostly fit, I even lost the sense of taste at one point.  It wasn’t flu or strep, and I remember incredulously asking the pediatrician if the kids could really be this sick, this long, from a virus.  ...though I’d have expected us to be even sicker with all of the preexisting conditions here.  So it’s hard to say.

But knowing either way wouldn’t substantially change our behavior.  It’s more curiousity.

[Lawyer&Mom]

31 minutes ago, Spryte said:

I remember incredulously asking the pediatrician if the kids could really be this sick, this long, from a virus.

My kids had low grade fevers for three straight weeks when I was sick in March.  (But were running around like nothing was wrong.)  Pediatrician said that wasn’t possible and suggested there was something wrong with out thermometer.  It just wasn’t consistent with symptoms of viruses kids get... Now I’m like wait!  Maybe this was a *novel* virus!

[shawthorne44]

 

I assume this is national (check first) but where I live if you donate blood they'll give you your antibody test results.   Win-Win.   Literally.    

I couldn't give because of my iron.   Both Carter and Red Cross are doing this.   Maybe donate, and if you decide that the test wasn't worthwhile then no harm, you gave blood.   

[Spryte]

1 hour ago, shawthorne44 said:

 

I assume this is national (check first) but where I live if you donate blood they'll give you your antibody test results.   Win-Win.   Literally.    

I couldn't give because of my iron.   Both Carter and Red Cross are doing this.   Maybe donate, and if you decide that the test wasn't worthwhile then no harm, you gave blood.   

That’s excellent!!!

[Ottakee]

10 hours ago, Acadie said:

 

I think the issue is not that there are several mysterious new viruses going around, but that our Covid testing is a work in progress. 

This could be.  I had the fever, cough, tiredness, lots of difficulty breathing (peak flows about 50% even with treatment), and "weird" pneumonia on an x Ray back in early Feb.   

Of course there was no covid testing back then.  I did the antibody test but it came back negative....but it was over 3 months (their max for saying it is reliable)....so who knows.  

[Acadie]

9 hours ago, shawthorne44 said:

 

I assume this is national (check first) but where I live if you donate blood they'll give you your antibody test results.   Win-Win.   Literally.    

I couldn't give because of my iron.   Both Carter and Red Cross are doing this.   Maybe donate, and if you decide that the test wasn't worthwhile then no harm, you gave blood.   

 

Dh gave blood with Red Cross three weeks ago and hasn't gotten results of viral or antibody testing yet. My guess is blood donors are in line way behind everyone else for testing. But maybe results are coming back much faster outside Ohio.

[Spryte]

1 hour ago, square_25 said:

From what I've seen, antibodies fade quite quickly, and some people don't make them at all. So at this point, I don't feel like getting a test. 

Yes, I think we are past the window when we might have been able to test.  Though, really, I don’t particularly think I’d want to be exposed by going to get tested.

I’m not convinced we had it this past winter, anyway.  Whatever it was, it was bad, but I feel like it is unlikely, given the timeline.