This breakthrough coronavirus test could tell you if you’re still immune

[Chris Smith]

More than 118 million people have contracted COVID-19, according to figures collected since the illness was first found in China in late 2019. But these are just the people who tested positive. About a year ago, there weren’t enough tests to go around, and even those who qualified might have had a hard time getting tested.

The antibody tests that followed were not good enough to confirm past infections. The scientific community soon discovered that antibodies would disappear in some patients after a few months, prompting worries about waning COVID-19 immunity. More in-depth immunity studies followed, proving that COVID-19 survivors would still show strong coronavirus-specific B and T cells (white blood cells), even when antibodies became undetectable. Those memory cells could effectively spearhead another fight against the virus during future infections. But testing for B and T cells isn’t simple or cheap.

A year later, the FDA issued an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for the Adaptive Biotechnologies T-Detect COVID Test. The new test would confirm a COVID-19 infection in people who suspect they survived the illness, including asymptomatic cases and people suffering from "Long COVID" without having ever been officially diagnosed with COVID-19. The test could also help with future immunity studies, including vaccine-induced immunity.

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This breakthrough coronavirus test could tell you if you’re still immune originally appeared on BGR.com on Tue, 9 Mar 2021 at 20:39:37 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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