TAMPA, Fla. — You've likely heard a lot about antibody testing for COVID-19, whether to know if you had the virus and whether or not you can donate convalescent plasma to help others.
But, how accurate is that testing?
The Infectious Diseases Society of America released its guidelines on serologic testing or antibody-based testing.
This group is made up of clinicians, scientists and public health experts who specialize in infectious disease. This panel was put together to discuss how good antibody testing is and how they perform.
It found the timing of the testing to be very important and is recommending against using antibody testing in the first one to two weeks after onset of symptoms. The group says the IGM antibodies were not detectable and didn't rise early in infection.
"Because many patients haven't developed the antibodies yet, they're not detectable and if you got a negative result from a patient who had compatible signs or symptoms, you really can't exclude the possibility that the patient still could have COVID-19," Dr. Kimberly Hanson with the IDSA said.
They found the "sweet" spot was three to four weeks after the onset of symptoms, which is when the tests have the highest sensitivity and the highest specificity.
The other interesting thing they found was it is still not known how long the antibodies last.
"There are some studies that show the more severe the symptoms, the more likely you are to have detectable antibodies and potentially they last a little bit longer than folks who are asymptomatic or have mild infection," Hanson said.
The panel also said that some people never develop an antibody response. They said there will be a lot of studies moving forward on what an antibody means for immunity and re-infection.
You can take a look at the guidelines and recommendations here.
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