The CDC has published this climbing warning on antibody tests
Viral tests and antibodies are essential for opening, but it is much more reliable than the other.
The American Center for Disease Control and Preventionrevealed that current antibody tests for those who have been infected withCOVID-19 [Feminine Are not reliable, throwing a cloud on the progress of ongoing tests so critical to reopening the reopening securely an American economy of the coronavirus pandemic.
In the orientation published during the weekend, the CDC noted that if theantibody test Is used in a population where the prevalence of covidation disease is low, it is possible that "less than half of the positive tests have truly antibodies".
There are two types of critical tests for public health experts to identify risks and progress in reducing CIVID-19 contagion. Viral tests determine whether it is positive for coronavirus at the time of test and antibody tests - which determine whether its immune system has built antibodies to combat Covid-19. According to the CDCadvice:
In the current pandemic, the specificity specification and therefore a positive predictive value in a serological algorithm is preferred in most cases because the overall prevalence of antibodies in most populations is probably low. For example, in a population where the prevalence is 5%, a 90% sensitivity test and the specificity of 95% will produce a positive predictive value of 49%. In other words, less than half of the positive tests will truly have antibodies. Alternatively, the same test in a population with a prevalence of antibodies greater than 52% will give a positive predictive greater than 95%, which means less than one in 20 positive testing will have a false positive test result.
While the results of the viral tests and antibodies are critical measures for medical experts and public health to take into account, they measurevery different things. In the case of antibody tests, the results determine whether someone recovered from COVID-19 or had it and has beenasymptomatic. It is similar to watching a "mirror" of his health. The antibody test data is a crucial metric, although the incidence of false positive results makes it relatively less useful according to the CDC.
