The media surrounding Coronavirus is all over the place because, well, there is not much else to report on during this quarantine. It is so important to read valid information especially in uneasy times such as this one. Researchers and medical professionals are working so hard for all of us and I was able to learn about the things they are doing when testing people for COVID-19. An article in the Journal of Medical Virology was published at the end of February and explains the use of a rapid IgM-IgG antibody blood test. This test only takes 15 minutes and can easily be collected because it is a blood test. The other method of testing for COVID-19 is a virus nucleic acid Real-Time PCR that takes a lot longer and has higher rates of false negatives for the virus.
The article explains that IgM is the antibody that is detected in the body as the initial line of defense in the immune system therefore indicating infection. The IgG antibody indicates a longer time since exposure because the body has been able to class switch to IgG antibodies. These researchers found that the combined IgM-IgG blood test has a sensitivity of 88.66% and an accuracy of 90.63%. This can be used to help properly diagnose those who have the virus and also diagnose people who may carry the virus in them but are asymptomatic. The Journal of Pharmaceutical Analysis also published an article this February that describes the immune pathogenesis of Coronavirus. This article further explains the role of IgM and IgG antibodies in the fight against COVID-19. It explains that the production of only IgM antibodies indicates a recent exposure to the virus, production of both IgM and IgG indicates that only some time has passed since exposure but the body is fighting it off, and only IgG indicates a long amount of time has passed since exposure. These antibody specific tests could be used to understand the immune stages of fighting the infection.
The Journal of American Medical Association published an article that studied women who gave birth with the Coronavirus infection. The study was only on 6 mothers who tested positive for the virus which is important to understand because small sample sizes can influence application to larger populations. With that in mind, they found that five out of the six newborns tested positive for the IgG antibodies for COVID-19. This is exciting for the future because antibodies are being passed down to new babies so that they can better fight the infection. Microbiology has opened my interest for understanding COVID and many other diseases. I would have such a different outlook and more anxiety about the quarantine but reading this articles has help create hope for the future!
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