Not going to lie. I’m kind of sick of going to class and hearing about Covid-19, turning on the news and hearing about Covid-19, looking on my phone and seeing Covid-19 and now I have to write another blog post about Covid-19. I’m not trying to sound like I don’t care because this is a super serious issue, but I think I’m tired of writing about it.
Anyways, in this week’s blog post I’m going to discuss antibody responses to Covid-19. The body produces a number of antibodies that help fight off infections. These antibodies fall into five main immunoglobulin classes. These classes are IgM, IgG, IgA, IgD and IgE. Each class of antibody has a specific function within the immune response. IgM is an extremely important class of antibody because it is the first class produced by the body when a microbial invader has been introduced. IgG is also very important because it provides the longest source of protection out of all of the antibodies. According to Nature, the detection of SARS-CoV-2 is specific to two antibodies, IgM and IgG. A study performed by Lianhuaqingwen experts found that in a majority of the patients who were infected with Covid-19, most of them had an increased level of IgG antibodies within their blood. This gives experts some understanding of the effect of the virus on the immune response and opens up the doors for possibilities of different testing methods that are more accurate.
The antibody titer is a test that detects the presence and measures the amount of antibodies within a person’s blood. According to Healthline, the amount of diversity of the antibodies produced correlates to the strength of the body’s immune response. The IgM and IgG tests are typically given to understand if a person has an active infection or any sort of immunity built to a disease. If you only have IgM titers, the infection has only been going on for a few days. If there is body IgM and IgG antibodies the infection has persisted within the body and the body intends to make some kind of lasting immunity. If primarily IgG antibodies are present, this means the infection has been persisting in the body for weeks. If we could determine who was IgG positive, we would be able to determine who has immunity to the virus because those peoples immune systems have been fighting off the virus for weeks.
According to WHO, there are many tests that are being generated to help control the spread of infection by identifying which individuals could have the virus. The test kits are based either on detection of proteins from the COVID-19 virus in the respiratory samples of detection the blood or serum, of human antibodies generated in response to infection. The RDT test detects the presence of viral proteins expressed by the COVID-19 virus from a sample taken from the individual’s respiratory tract. If the antigen is present in sufficient concentrations, it will bind to specific antibodies fixed to a paper strip and generate a visually detectable signal, typically within 30 minutes. The other RDT detects the presence of antibodies in the blood of people believed to have been infected with COVID-19. The test detects the type of antibodies present and the size of the response to those antibodies. WHO states that there is not a valid way to test individuals currently because the tests are not up to the typical standard because of time constraints on making these tests. A PCR that directly tells if the virus is present would be the most accurate form of testing, but there has been little time to create a safe and accurate test.
I believe that we need to find an accurate test very quickly. If we do not find an accurate test we may run into a problem when stores, restaurants and malls open back up. Many people may be positive for the virus and not even know it because their immune system has been fighting it for weeks. When these people come in contact with the real world, they may infect people who have weakened immune system, creating a whole new outbreak that will spread even faster. Hopefully scientists can find a way to accurately test for the presence of the virus.
Madison's Microbiology Masterpiece 