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Language: en
hi I'm dr. William Lee I'm a physician
scientist an author and I get lots of
questions about kovat 19 and today I'm
gonna answer a few about antibody tests
for the virus
I'd like to explain what an antibody
test is and why they're so important so
here goes
what exactly are antibody tests and how
do they work what tests are being
developed to identify people who've been
infected by Coppa 19 and there are
different types of tests one type of
test looks for the virus itself by
looking for its genetic material in your
mucus and this is the main kind of test
that's used in medical centers today and
it relies on a deep swab in your nose to
capture a bit of that mucus if you can
find the genetic material of Cova 19 in
the mucus it's a positive test and you
have the infection if you can't find
that genetic material is a negative test
and it means you don't have Cova 19 this
has been fairly reliable and it's used
in most hospitals today the other test
is called an antibody test antibodies
are naturally formed in a body after a
virus infection it's how your immune
system recognizes a virus and special
immune cells called b-cells start
pumping out antibodies that can stick to
and mark the virus for destruction so
tests that detect antibodies show that
your body has been exposed to and
responded to the infection appropriately
and if you're somebody who's been sick
and recovered and you can find
antibodies in your bloodstream that's a
good sign because it means that you're
likely to be resistant to reinfection
I'm not going to get sick again someone
who actually has these antibodies might
be safe to return to work in the future
and making commingle with other people
which is why these tests are ultimately
going to be so important and here's an
important point it's absolutely crucial
that all tests for kovat 19 are
high-quality reliable and accurate
because we're gonna use these results to
guide the identification of people who
have been exposed and who have developed
natural immunity here's another question
when our antibody tests use foreign
general well antibody tests are actually
not used in general because when we give
vaccines like the polio vaccine tetanus
vaccine chickenpox vaccine we don't use
we don't need antibody test because well
we actually have enough experience with
the vaccines so we know that they
actually work how our Kovan 19 antibody
test conducted
specifically well antibodies circulating
a blood so that Kovac 19 antibody tests
require a blood sample and some of the
tests just use a finger prick now some
of these antibody tests are available
but most of them still need to be
validated and that means that tests need
to be done on the test to make sure that
they're accurate how we'll kovin 19
antibody tests be effective in stopping
the spread of the virus the liable
antibody tests will allow doctors to
figure out who has been infected and
recovered and whose bodies contain these
antibodies that make them more resistant
to re infection and they're not gonna
get sick again so someone who doesn't
have antibodies probably hasn't been
exposed or infected yet and is going to
be more vulnerable to getting infected
in getting sick and those are the people
who are gonna obviously need a vaccine
when it's available who should get a
kovat 19 antibody test when they're made
widely available well in theory everyone
should get one because it'd be super
helpful to know if you've ever been
exposed and whether your body's making
antibodies so you're safe to come into
contact with another person who might
carry the virus and that's it for now I
hope I've helped clear up a few things
about antibody test for Kovan 19 stay
safe