In one minute, Prof. Dr. Milo Puhan explains what exactly an antibody test is. Milo Puhan heads the Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Prevention Institute at the University of Zurich and is President of the Swiss School of Public Health SSPH+.
What is an antibody test?
Questions & answers
What are antibodies?
to anwser
When someone is infected with the Corona virus, the virus settles in the nose, throat and lungs. To defend itself against the virus, the body produces antibodies that can be found in the blood and sometimes in saliva. Normally, the body produces enough antibodies to kill a virus within a short time. However, antibodies also ensure that the immune system remembers with which virus it has been infected with so that the body can kill this virus directly upon a second or third contact. This process makes a person "immune" and prevents the virus from spreading again in the body.
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Is a person immune after a corona infection?
to anwser
This is one of the main questions, the Corona Immunitas Team wants to answer. With the new Corona virus, it is not yet known whether the antibodies in the blood survive for a longer time or whether they disappear quickly again. If they disappear quickly, a person can unfortunately become infected with the Corona virus again and the immune answer from the body starts again.
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Do antibody tests show whether you are currently infected?
to anwser
Since antibodies are built only after approximately one week of infection, antibody tests are not suitable for detecting an acute infection. The PCR test, in which a nasopharyngeal swab is taken and examined for the virus in the laboratory, is used to find out about an acute infection. However, antibody tests can detect cases in which an infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus has occurred without symptoms or with only mild symptoms.
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What is the digital questionnaire for?
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The participants of the studies regularly complete a short online questionnaire with questions regarding hygiene measures, health and symptoms. These information are essential to best evaluate and interpret the antibody test results. In addition, the studies aim to gain insights into how the drastic national and cantonal protective measures affect people's lifestyle and quality of life.
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Science Channel
All relevant papers about Corona Immunitas can be downloaded here as PDF files.
