The Covid-19 pandemic was the worst kind in recent years because it affected everyone globally. Everything came to a standstill. Fortunately, various tests are available either to direct the infection or determine if a person developed antibodies after recovering from the COVID-19 infection.
This post will look at antibody testing and how it’s done once a person recovers from the virus. Continue reading with greater knowledge.
What is antibody testing?
If you have just recovered from Covid-19, it is a good idea to go for antibody testing. This type of test is usually done to establish whether a person developed antibodies to fight against the virus, which led to its defeat. So, what are antibodies? Whenever some disease attacks a person, he or she usually develops a defensive mechanism to fight and defeat the illness. The defense mechanism is usually made from a specific protein that targets foreign pathogenic cells. However, not all people can develop these proteins. That is why it is good to go for antibody testing after suffering from the dreaded Covid-19 virus.
What makes the Covid-19 sickness dangerous from other kinds of coronavirus is that it mutates after a while, making it hard to develop a cure. Since there is no cure for Covid-19, the patient can only hope that the body’s defense system can defeat the virus on its own. If a person has a weak immune system, he or she can succumb to the disease if the symptoms become severe.
The type of virus responsible for the coronavirus disease 2019 is known as SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19). Once attacked by the virus, the body will take several days to identify the virus to create antibodies to fight against the infection. While some people may take days to develop antibodies, some take weeks. Antibodies don’t stay in the body for long. Doctors and scientists have not yet discovered how long Covid-19 antibodies stay in the body. Therefore, it is important to go for antibody testing once you heal or recover from COVID-19.
How is antibody testing done?
Carrying out antibody testing is pretty easy, and you may choose to do it on your own or ask a primary care provider to assist you. Below are steps that you need to take when performing antibody testing:
- You will receive a testing kit via mail.
- Open it and go through the instructions very carefully.
- Use the lancet tool to prick your skin from at the fingertip.
- Squeeze the pricked area to remove blood
- The blood sample should be squeezed into a test tube.
- The test tube containing the blood sample is then placed into a parcel and sent to the lab using a Royal Mail priority postbox.
Once in the lab, the technician will take the blood sample and perform what is known as antibody testing. This type of test is performed in a lab under extreme care to determine whether the blood contains traces of antibodies. When a patient recovers, he or she may have either IgM or IgG antibodies. IgM antibodies occur early in the infection, and IgG antibodies show up late.
Conclusion
You don’t need to be afraid to take antibody testing. It only takes a few minutes, and you can do it independently or seek assistance from a primary care provider. It is important to take this test because it allows you to establish whether you have developed antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 or not. Antibodies can be donated to patients who cannot develop these vital proteins.
