1 / 2FILE PHOTO: Specimens from coronavirus disease tests are logged to processed for a positive or negative result at the UW Medicine Virology lab in Seattle,By Chad Terhune, Allison Martell and Julie Steenhuysen
Several private companies have begun selling blood tests for COVID-19 antibodies outside the United States, including California-based Biomerica Inc and South Korean test maker Sugentech Inc . Biomerica said its test sells for less than $10 and the company already has orders from Europe and the Middle East. Chembio Diagnostics Inc of New York said it received a $4 million order from Brazil for its COVID-19 antibody test, and it plans a study of the test at several sites in the United States.
Detecting immunity among doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers could spare them from quarantine and enable them to keep treating the growing surge of coronavirus patients, they say. It could also bolster the ranks of first responders, police officers and other essential workers who have already been infected and have at least some period of protection from the virus, the experts say.
Tony Mazzulli, chief microbiologist with Toronto's Sinai Health system, sounded a note of caution. It is uncertain whether antibodies would be sufficient protection if a person were to be re-exposed to the virus in very large amounts. That could happen in an emergency room or intensive-care unit, for instance.
The trial is designed to show when people who have COVID-19 infections “seroconvert” - when antibodies produced by the body begin to show up in blood tests. That information will be useful in determining the best time to conduct the tests. The agency faced heavy criticism for sending a faulty diagnostic test to state and local labs early in the coronavirus epidemic and then taking weeks to fix it. The federal government is still trying to expand diagnostic testing capacity.The potential for antibody testing arises as U.S. President Donald Trump is considering scaling back “social distancing” and stay-at-home advisories in the weeks ahead. His political allies argue that the toll on the U.S. economy is too severe.
“Some are developed now. We are looking at the ones in Singapore,” Birx said Monday at a White House press briefing. “We are very quality-oriented. We don’t want false positives.”
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