Lang
6/15/20
University of Iowa Health Care has announced it now has in-house capability to conduct highly-accurate antibody testing for COVID-19. The tests detect the presence of antibodies to the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, and can be used to determine whether a person has had COVID-19.
Officials say the addition of antibody testing complements UI Health Care’s already vigorous testing capabilities for the diagnosis and tracking of COVID-19. Antibody testing results may be used to improve clinical care for patients who have had COVID-19 and further expand research on how the disease spreads and who is most at risk.
Antibody testing is often used as an initial screen to detect the presence of antibodies in donated plasma. The testing can also be used to survey specific groups of people to determine what proportion has been infected. The surveys are useful for studying the prevalence of COVID-19 in a community or group.
Because it takes one to three weeks after the initial infection for antibodies to develop, antibody tests are not used to diagnose someone who was recently infected or has just started to show illness.
Physicians with UI Health Care will be able to order the test, which involves collecting a blood sample that is then sent to the laboratory. The testing is fully automated and can run at least 300 samples per day with the results available that same day, often within one hour of the sample arriving in the lab. Officials estimate that the lab will initially have capacity to run about 2,000 tests in total with more becoming available as the companies produce more testing supplies.