#Coronavirus Antibody Tests May Produce Contradictory Results - Bloomberg
▻https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-05-05/coronavirus-antibody-tests-may-produce-contradictory-results
On the final leg of my unscientific experiment, I tracked down a pediatric intensive care nurse, Deborah Lees, who lives around the corner from me. A mother of three, Lees had relatively mild symptoms—a cough, fatigue, and low-grade fever—and took a positive swab test for Covid-19 on March 24. More than two weeks later, her hospital performed a lab-based test that showed she had IgG antibodies but no IgM.
Sitting on her sofa, she pricked her finger to drop blood into the Biopanda test cassette—the one in which I’d tested positive. Her results were negative. We were baffled. “It’s very confusing,” she said. “I thought I had antibodies, which takes away at least some of the fear, that at least you’re protected to some extent.”
A representative of Biopanda, Han Yan, says: “She may have had a weak antibody response, and our test wasn’t sensitive enough to detect it.”
After four tests and conflicting cross-checks, I’m still not sure if I’ve had Covid-19. I’d like to think the Biopanda test is right, but if it couldn’t pick up the nurse’s antibodies, I wonder why it picked up mine. I worry that many of the tests on the market might give people a false sense that they have some immunity. Until we know more about this virus—how it’s transmitted and why some people are dodging it, despite being exposed—I will continue to work from home, wear my mask and gloves in the supermarket, and try to stay 6 feet away from people when I venture outdoors.
Dommage que l’infirmiere n’ait pas répété le premier test sérologique.