I have antibodies - now what

JamoLew

sharpe106 said:

To be fair to the OP I don't think they were suggesting that they should now be allowed to ignore the rules, just wondering what it meant. 

exactly this - sorry if I didn't make myself as clear as I should have 
nannyto2 said:

@JamoLew did you have any symptoms at all? or you had it without having any idea ??

no symptoms whatsoever - I work in a hospital, so was and still am very aware of my responsibilities to myself and other people

Mrsn

nannyto2 said:

How do you get the antibody test?

If I recall correctly the OP works in a hospital.

getmore4less

Untill enough people get the tests the false positive will be relatively high. 

I think the bigist benefit of testing positive is there is a chance you have had it and it did not kill you. 

There is a good chance that if you get it again it won't kill you. 
There is also a chance it will stop you getting it again.

Dr_Crypto

jackieblack said:

Dr_Crypto said:

She wasn’t immune as such. She was a (relatively) assymptomatic long term carrier of the Salmonella enterica bacterium which lived in her gall bladder for some reason. 

How is salmonella connected to typhoid?
Genuine question - I’ve never heard of any connection between the two before 🤷🏻‍♀️

It’s the name of the bug. It’s been too long since I’ve done this stuff but what we think of a salmonella is caused by another bacterium of the same species. 

Dr_Crypto

nannyto2 said:

How do you get the antibody test?

If you work in certain sectors such as the NHS and social care you can get one free through work. If you don’t you can buy tests online and you take your own blood and send it off and they test it. I’m not sure how much point there is given the uncertainty about what the results mean but some people really want to know. A test is about £100. 

onwards&upwards

getmore4less said:

Untill enough people get the tests the false positive will be relatively high. 

There is practically zero chance of a false positive.  It’s false negatives that are far more likely. 

nannyto2

no symptoms whatsoever - I work in a hospital, so was and still am very aware of my responsibilities to myself and other people

Quite reassuring that you have caught it without even noticing! Assuming the accuracy of this test is OK, that's great!

Uxb1

The who antibody thing is fraught with difficulties.
Firstly there there those who recover from the virus by their first-line innate immune system dealing with it so there is no need for their adaptive immune system to generate any antibodies: they are to an extent intrinsically/genetically immune to it - there is I think no test as yet for these people.
For those who do generate antibodies......
If the presence of antibodies does not make you immune to getting it again then the vaccine researchers have a huge problem.  A vaccine basically works by confusing your body to produce antibodies for a disease that it does not have, so when it encounters the real disease in the wild it is primed and ready to repel it at the first instance. So if there is no immunity from anti-bodies then a vaccine is unlikely. Additionally if there is no immunity then the human race has a real problem as you will continue getting it time and time again and those who suffer from it badly may not die the first time - but they most probably will the next time.
On the other hand if antibodies do make you immune for a period of months or years a quite different problem for HMG emerges.  For those who do have the CV19 antibodies it therefore follows that any form of social distancing makes no sense whatsoever: they cannot get it again and cannot pass it on.  So employers will only want to employ those with CV19 antibodies to avoid having to make any changes to the workplace.  This will lead to different classes of citizens, the employable and the unemployable, with antibody tests being regarded as an immunity certificate - along with all the problems of fake results being banded about.  For the young whose chance of dying is rather less than the chance of being murdered they would hence bizarrely actually want to get the virus and to recover from it to get the antibodies. (chicken pox parties anyone?)
So I can quite see why HMG would rather keep the antibody test to health care workers alone, and ban the public from getting private ones done- which I gather they have done by telling the labs to cease processes such tests, while continuing to muddy the waters about whether or not it means you are immune and continually pushing the keep to social distancing regardless mantra.

GDB2222

I don’t think that’s quite correct Uxb1. PHE have put a hold on the finger pr1ck tests, until there is evidence on their accuracy. The full blood draw tests are still available, both to health workers and those prepared to pay £100 or so.

I agree that people with antibodies will be in demand. Also, looking around the parks, lots of young people are getting together in large groups, clearly not worried about Covid. That may be a mistake, as my 18 year old nephew was rather ill with Covid and still feels poorly weeks later. He wasn’t near death, but he felt really really awful. 

onwards&upwards

Uxb1 said:
For those who do have the CV19 antibodies it therefore follows that any form of social distancing makes no sense whatsoever: they cannot get it again and cannot pass it on. 

Wrong.  They might not be able to pass it on through coughing or sneezing etc. but if they touch a door handle that has virus living on it and then touch a trolley or the self checkout at Asda, or a  they can still transfer that virus around the environment. 

The antibody tests are only tested and designed to get an accurate result from venous blood.  The blood you get from a finger !!!!!! is capillary blood, the tests may not be accurate, especially with the increased risk of user error from people doing it at home with no training.