I've noticed increased antibody testing availability in recent months, including being able to be tested at places like CVS and as part of the UT Health study that has been been referenced and linked by multiple posters. The limited data referenced on this website on another thread seems to show that S and N protein antibodies, and that their presence does drop over time. Prior articles I'd seen on the subject seemed to reference 6-12 month antibody presence.
I had also recently seen an article about a test for T and B cell immunity function from prior infection. The test is also EUA and the linked article is some of the only information I've found on it, and includes a paragraph about only specific labs being qualified to run the test.
Along the same lines, I recently saw another article where people who had SARS in 2003 had "robust cross-reactivity to the N protein of SARS-CoV-2" 17 years following their infection.
A few questions for the doctors or any familiar posters here:
1. Are antibodies a more effective indicator of the ability to mount a defense against infection/re-infection than a positive reading that a person has T or B cell memory of a prior infection? Or is it too early to know that/varies by disease?
2. Does anyone have any information about the ability to get the T and B cell test? Has anyone here gotten one, or know of anywhere that is conducting the test? I took from that article that it exists, but I don't know how widely considering I don't hear about it.
3. Are there metrics from other viruses about T and B cell function that translate into a metric about how effectively the immune system would respond to reinfection? Is T and B cell function more like a "yes it works or no it doesn't" kind of thing....or a you have a strong to weakening T and B cell response over time. I assume this is something we're learning as we go along with COVID-19, but I wasn't sure exactly how that worked, and wondered if the "robust" response referenced here was likely positive news moving forward.
These articles also mention that these metrics are not a substitute for a vaccine, but is that something based off knowing the severity of symptoms/viral load of people with vaccines vs. antibody present or T/B cell present people? Or is it more along the lines of knowing the vaccine provides a strong antibody response at injection and having that information more readily available? It seems like knowing more about T cell immunity would be something paramount in creating the message for public health in the coming months.
I had also recently seen an article about a test for T and B cell immunity function from prior infection. The test is also EUA and the linked article is some of the only information I've found on it, and includes a paragraph about only specific labs being qualified to run the test.
Along the same lines, I recently saw another article where people who had SARS in 2003 had "robust cross-reactivity to the N protein of SARS-CoV-2" 17 years following their infection.
A few questions for the doctors or any familiar posters here:
1. Are antibodies a more effective indicator of the ability to mount a defense against infection/re-infection than a positive reading that a person has T or B cell memory of a prior infection? Or is it too early to know that/varies by disease?
2. Does anyone have any information about the ability to get the T and B cell test? Has anyone here gotten one, or know of anywhere that is conducting the test? I took from that article that it exists, but I don't know how widely considering I don't hear about it.
3. Are there metrics from other viruses about T and B cell function that translate into a metric about how effectively the immune system would respond to reinfection? Is T and B cell function more like a "yes it works or no it doesn't" kind of thing....or a you have a strong to weakening T and B cell response over time. I assume this is something we're learning as we go along with COVID-19, but I wasn't sure exactly how that worked, and wondered if the "robust" response referenced here was likely positive news moving forward.
These articles also mention that these metrics are not a substitute for a vaccine, but is that something based off knowing the severity of symptoms/viral load of people with vaccines vs. antibody present or T/B cell present people? Or is it more along the lines of knowing the vaccine provides a strong antibody response at injection and having that information more readily available? It seems like knowing more about T cell immunity would be something paramount in creating the message for public health in the coming months.