It has been announced today by the UK government that Public Health England has evaluated Roche’s blood antibody tests for detecting if a person has been infected with COVID-19. They have approved the use of the test for general population screening. Roche are the world’s second largest pharmaceutical company and are world leaders in diagnostic testing.
The test is what is known as a serology test and looks for antibodies in the blood against COVID-19. A person’s immune system when confronted by virus responds in a number of different ways. The first response is to use antibodies circulating in the blood to fight the attacker. This response is innate immunity. It is there all the time, protecting you. Innate immunity through a class of antibodies called IgM is the first response to any infectious agent. IgM antibodies fight against viruses like COVID-19, antibiotic resistant bacteria or fungal infections.
Whilst the first line of defence works, a second antibody defence mechanism comes into play: acquired immunity. Acquired immunity can take 2 – 3 weeks to come into full effect. It uses a different category of antibodies called IgG and IgA. Acquired immunity is what will protect from the same infectious agent if we are confronted with this infectious agent in the future. It is what might protect someone who has had a COVID-19 infection getting it again. We do not yet know if a person previously infected with COVID-19 can get another infection in the future.
Roche’s blood antibody tests
I provide this explanation as a way to understand that the Roche blood antibody test kit appears to be able to measure all three classes of antibody against COVID-19 i.e. IgM, IgG and IgA. Hospitals and reference laboratories can run the test on Roche’s cobas automated analysers, which are widely available around the world. These fully automated systems can provide SARS-CoV-2 serology test results in approximately 18 minutes for one single test. Depending on the analyser, that can be a test throughput of up to 300 tests/hour. As an aside, COVID-19 vaccines induce the same antibody response so that the body can fight off COVID-19 infections.
Roche’s antibody test kit was made available in the USA on 4 May 2020 (see HERE). This is my personal opinion, but I am not sure why it has taken the UK another 10 days to announce their test findings when the test takes 18 minutes?
Finally, I must point out that we have very few diagnostic test kits for drug-resistant bacterial infections. These infections can arise alongside viral infections. To optimise antibiotic treatment, we must improve testing. We must also identify the antibiotic resistant bacteria that is causing an infection. Doing so is the only way to determine the right antibiotic for treatment. We need the right bacteria for the right antibiotic, with the right dose for the right person. See the links between COVID-19 and bacterial infections HERE.
Note: Another diagnostic test kit manufacturer Abbott, USA also has an antibody test that has gained approval in the USA and EU (more detail on that, HERE).
Want to find more information about COVID-19? Check out our information pages and if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to use our Ask ANTRUK functionality.