Hopes grow for antibody tests, but authorities urge caution
29 April, 2020
The sun is merely just rising in Berlin but Lothar Kopp, 65, has already been standing in line outside a clinic in the district of Reinickendorf.
Along with a couple of mask-clad persons standing two metres apart, he is here to provide a blood sample -- for antibody tests in the hope of finding out if he has previously contracted the coronavirus and since developed immunity.
"If I've already had corona then I'm not infectious," said Kopp, hoping to check positive for antibodies since it could allow him to go to his elderly mother without the risk of spreading the disease.
As nations all over the world turn to ease curbs on public life, some professionals have mooted the possibility of so-called "immunity passports" to permit those who have antibodies to return to work first.
In Germany, thousands of tests have already been performed and large studies are ongoing.
Elsewhere on earth, efforts are also under way to look for the so-called degree of immunity in the populace.
NY Governor Andrew Cuomo said the other day that the state will be launching tests "in the most aggressive way in the country" to determine how many have previously had the disease.
Pretty quickly to catch up with testing, the U.S. regulator had even taken the extraordinary decision to permit commercial manufacturers to advertise their tests without formal authorization.
But professionals including from the World Health Organization have urged caution over the accuracy of the nascent tests.
Among the unknowns of the virus is how long immunity could last -- and therefore even positive antibody tests might not be meaningful for long.
Urging prudence, a WHO spokeswoman noted that there surely is "much discussion" over the antibody tests.
But "after we have validated tests we might still not understand how well a positive result correlates with protection against disease or for how long the protection can last," she told AFP.
Matthias Orth, a board person in the Professional Association of German Laboratory Doctors (BDL), said inaccuracies are a major problem.
People can test negative regardless if they experienced COVID-19, he said.
"Additionally, there are quite banal coronaviruses that do not cause serious illness, plus they can provide a positive result."
For so-called rapid antibody tests -- home kits that extract blood from your finger and promise an outcome within a quarter-hour -- Orth's verdict: "They're nonsense."
More accurate tests should come within weeks, he said, but he stressed that "it's a little too early to provide patients a clear statement they are definitely immune".
Experts also note that while large-scale studies underway across Europe's biggest economy can serve to know what proportion of the populace has been infected, they can not say for sure how many people are actually immune given the limitations on current antibodies tests.
Nevertheless, the studies, including the one that were only available in Munich over the weekend with scientists picking 3,000 households randomly to check for antibodies, are being closely watched.
A separate study is ongoing in Gangelt, in the Heinsberg district -- where Germany's first major cluster of infections was uncovered. Up to now, researchers have determined that 14 percent of the population had previously been infected.
Beyond studies, several pharmaceutical companies in Germany also have begun marketing such antibody tests -- which must be analysed in a laboratory.
And around 70,000 tests have up to now been processed by 54 laboratories, in line with the ALM association of accredited medical laboratories.
Doctor Ulrike Leimer-Lipke of the Reinickendorf clinic, which includes been offering antibody tests since mid-March, said: "I believe it makes a lot of sense, because in this manner we are able to find out if people have immunity.
"It is vital for people if they have a grandmother or a father or mother who they look after, to know if they are already immune."
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