Covid Antibody Test

Dr Isobel Wilson from Mosaic Medical will be offering the Covid-19 antibody test at Balanced. 

Antibody testing can indicate whether a person has been previously infected.   Most patients who recover from coronavirus have been found to produce antibodies, but it is not yet known how long these antibodies persist, if they protect against future infections and, how long protective immunity may last.

It may be helpful to test for Covid-19 antibodies if you suspect that you have long Covid and haven’t had a positive Covid-19 PCR test.

Testing should be undertaken 14 days or more following exposure or onset of symptoms.  The incubation period of COVID-19 ranges from between 1 to 14 days, with the majority of cases manifesting with symptoms at 3 – 5 days. The most common symptoms of COVID-19 are fever, tiredness, dry cough and difficulty breathing.
The host immune system reacts to the infection by SARS-CoV-2 by producing antibodies from a few days to 2 weeks and beyond.
The analysis and testing products that we use from Roche are MHRA approved and CE-marked, meeting UK regulatory requirements.
The test has both a high clinical specificity of 99.8% and sensitivity of 99.5%, 14 days or later after diagnosis with PCR.

How does it work?
The test is taken using a finger-prick blood sample by Dr Wilson, following a short consultation to explain how the Covid-19 antibody tests works and to ensure suitability for the test.
Please note that anyone who is displaying symptoms of Covid-19 are not suitable for this test . They should self-isolate at home and seek a PCR test from their local testing centre.