University of Birmingham has developed antibody test reagents for all covid patients' usage

Reporter : Yu Ning

Editor : Wen Di

Publisher : Sound Of Hope

Ref : https://www.soundofhope.org/post/391111

Translation, editing : Gan Yung Chyan

                                / KUCINTA SETIA

 

Image courtesy : Queensland University

The antibody reagent developed by a team at the University of Birmingham, UK, can detect 98% of the patients of SARS-CoV-2. They include asymptomatic patients. Analysts believe that this will help the British government to further relax its restrictive measures against covid.

According to the Daily Mail, many current SARS-CoV-2 reagents can only detect severe patients, but they cannot detect mild or even asymptomatic patients. Because 80% of the patients in the UK have very mild or no symptoms, the current test methods cannot accurately determine whether the test subject has immunity to the novel coronavirus.

However, this reagent developed by the University of Birmingham was tested by 1,000 medical staff in the UK and found that the accuracy rate was 98%, including patients with no disease. 

Alex Richter of the Institute of Immunology at the University of Birmingham said that their team found that the current test reagent tests the amount of antibody produced in critically ill patients, and this test method is very direct and effective for critically ill patients.

However, for mild patients, the amount of antibodies in the patient is too small to even be tested. In this test, the researchers tested the amount of antibody produced by the invading SARS-CoV-2 spike protein in the patient. So 98% accuracy is obtained. Dr. Richard also stated that the accuracy of this test method is the same as the result of a direct blood test from a vein.

The report said that this test method is very simple. Patients only need to draw a drop of blood from their fingertips at home, and then send the card with the blood stain to the local laboratory for testing. This test method undoubtedly solves the British government's difficulty of allowing companies to resume office work because they are unclear about the physical condition of the people, whether schools, companies, or government agencies can use this method to understand the physical condition of their staff.

The research of Richard's team of physicians also found that in the tests for these medical staff, one-third of the medical staff had negative blood test results when antibodies appeared in their saliva, which may indicate that simultaneous test should be performed.