[Closed] Anyone invited to take part in the NHS COVID antibody test?

I have been invited to an antigen test which I am now awaiting the testing kit for. Antibody test results seem odd as a few people I know (including my wife) were very ill with various symptoms back in March so whatever they had either wasn't Covid, they didn't develop antibodies or they did develop antibodies but they have already gone. If it wasn't Covid there is another nasty virus going around with very similar range of symptoms

As my wife and I were part of the initial herd immunity experiment, we'd love to get a letter.

Interesting that they can do random antibody tests but wont test NHS staff who were ill with the symptoms (Midlands).

However, the senior managers who took themselves off to "work from home" have got tested and the test have come back negative.

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Interesting that they can do random antibody tests but wont test NHS staff who were ill with the symptoms (Midlands).

Sounds like a Midlands issue. NHS staff in Dorset could all get tested from 2 weeks ago.

Our Kids were invited to join one for Children of NHS staff in Wales, it's part of the school reopening project.

Eldest took part on Saturday, I'm not sure we'll get a result as such, it wasn't mentioned.

Unless someone who actually knows about this stuff says otherwise, I don't believe just because you didn't test positive for antibodies, it doesn't mean you've never been exposed to the Virus. The vast majority of people who got symptoms and certainly those who ended up in hospital will develop antibodies (about 98%) but there are a lot of questions about whether people who show no symptoms do.

I've had one, our trust has started to roll it out to all employees. The results were supposed to be sent via a text message which didn't arrive; had to chase it via phone calls. It was negative as were most of my colleagues including some who had been off with flu like symptoms.

Interesting that they can do random antibody tests but wont test NHS staff who were ill with the symptoms (Midlands).

I understand that the purpose of it is to help them work out patterns of contagion etc - testing people who work in hospitals won't give them a broad picture (not that it's right or I think you should have been tested or anything).

it came back negative for antibodies which means I have never been exposed to it.

* MAY never...

I am more than willing to be educated on this, but my understanding was that a negative antibody test is not necessarily proof that you have not had it.

The less user error prone and hopefully more reliable result saliva antigen test (so if you currently have C19) is now doing trials https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-53131237

I did get an invite from Imperial College in the post a few weeks back to join a C19 trial of some sort (think it was antigen rather than antibody), but I've not responded.

Last I read, it's still unknown if all infected produce antibodies; how long it takes for antibodies to reach a level that will be picked up as a positive test result; how long those antibodies circulate in your body.

Given my partner's quite extreme symptoms for 5+ weeks from 17th March and my own unique milder symptoms from 20th March, while colleagues I worked with on 15th and 16th both developed symptoms the following week, fairly sure we've both had it.

Given my partner’s quite extreme symptoms for 5+ weeks from 17th March and my own unique milder symptoms from 20th March, while colleagues I worked with on 15th and 16th both developed symptoms the following week, fairly sure we’ve both had it.

Yep, I would have put money on my wife having had it (and me as I live with her and didn't isolate from her at all at any stage). The biggest concern with her being negative is that she could in theory get it all over again if anti-bodies were not developed or have already gone. If that turns out to be the case then it is never going away as it will be circulating forever (like other viruses) so we may as well just accept it and live with a bad virus.

Interesting that they can do random antibody tests but wont test NHS staff who were ill with the symptoms (Midlands).

However, the senior managers who took themselves off to “work from home” have got tested and the test have come back negative.

2. The OP seems to have been tested as part of a national study, not by an individual trust testing it's staff, so the two don't really affect one another.

There must be lots of folk who in any other yr must have just had the flu and felt rough this yr assume it must be covid. Most winters anyone with a couple of kids in nursery/ school will be bo7nd to get a few episodes of “man flu” or whatever that manifest in the same symptoms for the most par5 as a bout of mild covid. It may be that the mild covid symptoms that don’t end up with a positive antibody test might not have actually been covid, just a bad cold or normal flu?

My wife and I both had covid we tested positive on 20/4, she is back at work now but had to test clear before starting she also now has to get tested every month so far shes had 3 pos tests one inconclusive and one neg, she is going for antibody test today as it happens before shift I will post back the results, I haven't been allowed back to work yet but I'm being assessed again on 29th by the brigade doctor so hopefully I'll be back then as I feel much better

I am more than willing to be educated on this, but my understanding was that a negative antibody test is not necessarily proof that you have not had it.

Yes they were very clear on the documentation that the test is far from 100% accurate, however it is helping give them a broader picture of what is going on.

It may be that the mild covid symptoms that don’t end up with a positive antibody test might not have actually been covid, just a bad cold or normal flu?

Apart from it is nothing like a cold or typical flu. Would need to know a lot more about anti bodies for this particular virus (how long they last is key) to know how much merit the test has.

Would have made a lot more sense to have had better antigen testing back in Feb/March. Wife went to hospital in ambulance (no test in hospital as she hadn't come back from Italy!). Follow up with GP few days later where he said she probably has Covid but could be another virus but no need to test as doesn't matter which.

Apart from it is nothing like a cold

'The Common Cold' is often a coronavirus. to some people it's exactly like a cold, to others they feel nothing at all.

COVID19 is noval Coronavirus, which means it's not been seen in Humans before so there's no defence or immunity to it, that's why it's so contagious and so deadly so some.

One of the outcomes from this is that the Virus simply evolves to be a better virus, one that doesn't kill it's host and in a few years from now it'll just be 'the cold'.

Common cold symptoms (nose) are not a common symptom of Covid, at all, which is why I stated "it is nothing like a cold".

My wife’s been invited.  Itll <span style="font-size: 0.8rem;">be interesting to see her results as she has Lupus.  </span>

My wife and I both work clinically in hospital and had positive antibody tests last week despite neither of us having had any symptoms consistent with COVID and having had no time off.

I've had the letter last week, how long did the test take to come and was it hard to use? I've never done a finger prick thing before.

I seriously doubt I've had it unless I've been one of the few asymptomatic cases.

I received the invitation last week, registered, and the test kit arrived today. I'm pretty sure this is the one @johndoh started the thread about (and it might be useful to keep it to that?) - it's a DiY fingerprick test, drop of blood and two drops of buffer onto the card and wait 10 min for your result. I came up negative.

I had difficulty getting a big enough drop of blood from the fingerprick, so tried to use the pipette they provided, in the hope that it would help get all the blood I had onto the target. I would have been better not using it, as half the blood I drew into the pipette stayed as a film inside it. The kit includes a second lancet which made a bigger hole, that worked.

I’ve had the letter last week, how long did the test take to come and was it hard to use? I’ve never done a finger prick thing before.

Same as @greybeard, got the letter last week and responded immediately. The test kit came through on Saturday and it was pretty easy to use despite having an 11 yr old talking at me throughout trying to watch what I was doing. I got enough blood with the first prick test but there wasn't loads of it. I just squeezed my finger over the test kit rather than use the pipette.

The prick test thing is simple to use - you simply push it against your finger and the pressure releases the spring-loaded needle inside.

The kit comes with everything you need, even a small plaster.

Had mine a few weeks as I work for the NHS, all trusts up here are doing them. I was negative

Drac - yours won't have been part of the study though was it - it will have been part of the standard testing routine? The one I am referring to is the research study by DoH&SC, Imperial College and Ipsos MORI.

Not sure JD I had it out of curiosity and to provide data on covid, I think it may have been part of it too but as I say I’m not sure.

Mines the imperial college/IPSOS Mori one. It did say not everyone who gets invited will actually get a kit sent to them.

Our youngest has been invited, but none the rest of us. I think we're actually the 'currently infected' test though.

Yep

Negative ... as expected... shame really.

I had difficulty getting a big enough drop of blood from the fingerprick

I'm in for assessment for theOxford vaccine trial tomorrow - not a MASSIVELY promising set of early results in monkeys (may protect recipient from severe disease but they remained infective)

Regardless, I think it's worth doing. Of course, I get antibody tested at the start as they don't want to vaccinate folk on thetrial if they've already had it

Then I'll have weekly swabbing for nasal / throat samples unless the spit test turns out to be effective (please God, let that work - I've a massive gag reflex at the best of times)

Me & the OH had tests last week as part of an Oxford thing - back of throat swabs and fingerprick test (which I promptly googled to see how to interpret as they don't officially give you the results). We both came up negative (only control bar showing) which makes me wonder what we had end Feb (I also understand not all people who test positive for covid-19 then show positive for antibodies though I read that a couple of months ago).

Just did the test and a clear negative result - as I was expecting. I'm pleased really because my job involves semi regular visits to hospitals and health centres including "red" sites, so it shows that the measures they have in place are effective.

My trust has recently tested 5000 members of staff. I'm not sure what the positive rate is. Prior to this, the virology department tested everyone in the path lab in order to validate the analyser.

The was only a couple of unexpected positives I believe. One was someone I work with, he can only remember being ill briefly around Easter, but actually put it down to heat stroke for a day.

There was definitely another bug floating around at the end of Feb/march. We had several people off sick, one lad was coughing his lungs out constantly, but he tested negative along with everyone else. Another colleague had to self isolate around that time briefly, but she had metapneumovirus. Probably that doing the rounds at the time.

I missed my chance to take part in the trial, I should really go and get bled....

A steady tempo of: postive swab test result, gap, negative antibody test.

Not one or two, either.

Something's not right.

I took an antibody test yesterday (in fact I took two!)

By sheer chance, it turns out that someone who lives just down the road works in research in that area. After hearing about the symptoms I've been having (linky) they asked if I fancied a test, out of interest.

Both were negative.

They said that the tests are pretty good (96% efficacy IIRC) at identifying people who have previously tested positive for Covid. That said, they have tested a number of people with post-illness symptoms similar to mine (heart rate issues and chest pain) who don't test positive for the antibody. Most of us had milder symptoms while ill, so never went to hospital or got tested at the time.

The question then is, is there another virus going about that is getting lumped in with Covid cases but is actually different? Or, are people who get Covid but don't develop the antibody being affected differently during recovery?

Interesting stuff, though it doesn't help me with my current inability to go out running without my heart trying to explode :'(

I'm waiting for an appointment,  I work in a hospital lab. Not expecting a positive result once tested though.

A colleague got her results (negative) recently.  The report stated that utter may take weeks, or even months, for the antibodies to develop to a detectable level. She doesn't think she'd had thr virus though.

Another colleague who was confirmed positive also returned a negative result.

It seems like testing should be done repeatedly to get a better idea of what's happening. If the tests had been available earlier (clearly not realistic with a new virus), repeated, regular antibody testing of  confirmed positive cases would have given a better picture of antibody development.  The perfect scenario would be regular antigen and antibody testing of everyone throughout the pandemic. This is clearly blue sky thinking of the highest order.

Mrs K’s was negative.

Hmm, has anyone tested positive with it?  Does it therefore work or are we making up the numbers for Hancock?

The question then is, is there another virus going about that is getting lumped in with Covid cases but is actually different?

You mean the flu?

You mean the flu?

No idea, I'm an engineer not a medic.

If the flu can leave otherwise fit and healthy people with chest pain and heart rate issues afterward, then yes I guess that's a likely contender.

Lateral flow finger prick tests have a sensitivity of about 80%. They’ll miss 1/5 cases of you have had it. They have a specificity that’s higher but will tell you that you’ve had it when you haven’t about 1/20 times.

On an individual level, it’s not a great test. On a population level, there are means of estimating positives that include the test uncertainty properly. These methods are being used in the study. It took PHE a long time to realise that a test for the population is what was really needed. The swan pcr Test is much more accurate, but more labour intensive. The antibody swab Test is looking for big immunoglobulins in saliva and mucus called IgM.

My test was from the blood transfusion service. Not enough antibodies to be worth giving to someone else.

As for “other virus”, influenza has its own ICD10 code. Yes most diagnoses are symptom based and respiratory disease is coded, but deaths are recorded for tested cases of flu. It’s not flu and it’s not been a cold for me.