Coronavirus: High street antibody tests ‘good for satisfying curiosity, but no more’
Written by News on 21/05/2020
The first DIY COVID-19 antibody test available on the high street provides a “partial picture” and is good for “satisfying people’s curiosity but no more”, experts have warned.
The test kit on sale at Superdrug for £69 requires users to take a finger prick blood sample at home and send it off to an accredited laboratory for testing.
Superdrug said the test is accurate 97.5% of the time at detecting the IgG, the protein that develops after a coronavirus infection, and is 100% specific to the SARS-CoV-2 virus – the novel coronavirus which causes the COVID-19 disease.
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If positive, it means that the person tested had the virus at some point.
Commenting on the availability of the test and that offered for the same price by healthcare company Babylon, Dr Simon Clarke, associate professor in cellular microbiology at the University of Reading, outlined downsides.
“These tests are good for satisfying people’s curiosity, but no more. We just don’t know enough about what it takes to make someone immune to COVID-19 to accurately test people,” professor Clarke said.
The presence of the antibodies “does not indicate that someone is immune and it should be remembered that any post-infection immunity may dwindle rapidly”, he added.
Professor Gino Martini, chief scientific officer at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, added: “Any antibody test at present can only provide a partial picture.
“The real issue is that no one knows the level of immunity that is conferred by having antibodies to coronavirus, how long it might last, and if you can become re-infected.”
Martin Hibberd, professor of emerging infectious disease at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said that, because the tests have not been evaluated in the format that they are being used, their sensitivity and specificity is unclear.
He welcomed the use of a laboratory and the ease of taking the sample, but said that, while a positive result means the tested person has had the illness, it does not guarantee they are protected from future infections, or how long those antibodies will last.
Superdrug said it was “confident” in the accuracy and reliability of the test, whose results are available online 24 hours after the sample reaches the lab.
But the company’s doctor ambassador, Dr Zoe Williams, said a positive test result “does not mean you can be any more relaxed with the required hygiene and social distancing measures as set out by the government”.
Last week, ministers approved a new antibody test from Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche, which Public Health England called “100% accurate”.
(c) Sky News 2020: Coronavirus: High street antibody tests ‘good for satisfying curiosity, but no more’
