Anyone Else Been Selected?

I registered to have an antibody test as I am one of the eligible categories.
Was a couple of weeks ago so hoping I get the chance to take part.
 
Probably a question for @Ethan (or someone else with medical knowledge) - how long are antibodies likely to remain detectable in a person's blood? For example, if I'd been infected back in March how long would there be antibodies in my blood? Or is this not known yet?
 
ColchesterFC said:
Probably a question for @Ethan (or someone else with medical knowledge) - how long are antibodies likely to remain detectable in a person's blood? For example, if I'd been infected back in March how long would there be antibodies in my blood? Or is this not known yet?
Click to expand...

I thought anti bodies swim about in your blood forever. Otherwise we would have to all the injections we had as kids over and over, wouldn't we?
 
ColchesterFC said:
Probably a question for @Ethan (or someone else with medical knowledge) - how long are antibodies likely to remain detectable in a person's blood? For example, if I'd been infected back in March how long would there be antibodies in my blood? Or is this not known yet?
Click to expand...

The first antibody is IgM, and it appears about 10 days after infection and lasts for a few weeks. By that time IgG has appeared and that lasts for a variable time, but possibly up to 6 months or so. The real issue, though, is what happens with T-cells. It isn't really helpful to have lots of antibodies to every infection you have ever had swilling around, so the T-cells function is to patrol, if you like, and generate an antibody response if needed as well as directly attack intruders. The same sequence happens with vaccination.

Some people who have not had clinical Covid or antibodies have T-cells which respond to Covid, some partially, some fully, and one theory is that their recognition of Covid is pieced together from encounters with other coronaviruses. This is basically what most of us do to seasonal influenza.
 
Ethan said:
The first antibody is IgM, and it appears about 10 days after infection and lasts for a few weeks. By that time IgG has appeared and that lasts for a variable time, but possibly up to 6 months or so. The real issue, though, is what happens with T-cells. It isn't really helpful to have lots of antibodies to every infection you have ever had swilling around, so the T-cells function is to patrol, if you like, and generate an antibody response if needed as well as directly attack intruders. The same sequence happens with vaccination.

Some people who have not had clinical Covid or antibodies have T-cells which respond to Covid, some partially, some fully, and one theory is that their recognition of Covid is pieced together from encounters with other coronaviruses. This is basically what most of us do to seasonal influenza.
Click to expand...
You do need to possess a fair amount of brain cells to understand all this!
 
Ethan said:
The first antibody is IgM, and it appears about 10 days after infection and lasts for a few weeks. By that time IgG has appeared and that lasts for a variable time, but possibly up to 6 months or so. The real issue, though, is what happens with T-cells. It isn't really helpful to have lots of antibodies to every infection you have ever had swilling around, so the T-cells function is to patrol, if you like, and generate an antibody response if needed as well as directly attack intruders. The same sequence happens with vaccination.

Some people who have not had clinical Covid or antibodies have T-cells which respond to Covid, some partially, some fully, and one theory is that their recognition of Covid is pieced together from encounters with other coronaviruses. This is basically what most of us do to seasonal influenza.
Click to expand...

So is the test to see if you've had it looking for the IgM antibody or the T cells? If it's looking for T cells then how does it know that those T cells will generate a response to Covid? From what you've said if it's looking for the IgM then after 6 months (ish) it would no longer pick them up and so would return a negative result?
 
ColchesterFC said:
So is the test to see if you've had it looking for the IgM antibody or the T cells? If it's looking for T cells then how does it know that those T cells will generate a response to Covid? From what you've said if it's looking for the IgM then after 6 months (ish) it would no longer pick them up and so would return a negative result?
Click to expand...

The test will be for IgM and IgG. It won't test for T-cell activation. That is still a rather specialist test and under study. The antibody test will turn negative again after a while. There is some evidence that it falls away sooner in asymptomatic and older people, but the T-cell response wasn't tested in that study.

T-cell article
 
Had a read over and signed up, 5 tests in one month and then one per month for the next 11 months. Keen to know if I had it back in April, not sure it'll be able to tell me that this late or not.

Do you think those selected got selected because they were involved with sending daily info to one of the London University covid app some months ago?
 
@Ethan Do you know if there is any evidence to suggest that the nasty bug going round at Xmas/NY was an early strain of Covid?
 
drive4show said:
@Ethan Do you know if there is any evidence to suggest that the nasty bug going round at Xmas/NY was an early strain of Covid?
Click to expand...

I heard some discussion on that but initial reports of old samples taken from hospitalised patients around then later testing positive for Covid now appear to have been a lab error. I don't the the Covid phenotype (altered taste, temp, cough, then later inflammatory complications) was what was seen then.
 
Ethan said:
I heard some discussion on that but initial reports of old samples taken from hospitalised patients around then later testing positive for Covid now appear to have been a lab error. I don't the the Covid phenotype (altered taste, temp, cough, then later inflammatory complications) was what was seen then.
Click to expand...
My girlfriend had it, sore head and fever plus general fatigue but no breathing issues or loss of taste/smell. Lasted about 5 weeks.
 
KenL said:
I was quite ill and totally out of sorts in January this year. I had a really annoying persistent cough too.
Click to expand...
I was much the same in March just after lockdown, the Doc diagnosed [ by phone ] that I had Strep throat :confused: and prescribed a nasal spray.
I still have a throat chesty cough 6 months later.
Why aren't GPs seeing patients as many patients, it doesn't seem fair that A&E departments are having to bear the brunt of this. :mad:
 
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