A cheap, easy-to-use antibody test is set to be a valuable addition to our toolbox in ongoing efforts to tackle the coronavirus.
The portable test, newly developed by an international team of scientists led by Oxford University, will spot the presence of virus-fighting antibodies as opposed to a coronavirus infection. The test is straightforward to use; it works using blood from a finger prick and doesn’t require any special equipment. Results come through within an hour and scientists involved in its development say that the false positive rate is less than 1 per cent.
This isn’t the first test to detect whether someone has antibodies against the novel coronavirus. But the several commercial tests which predate it are expensive and generally require a central laboratory to analyse results. For many across the globe, this new version could be a game-changer. According to Professor Alain Townsend, the study lead from the MRC Human Immunology Unit at Oxford University, the ease with which the test can be manufactured combined with the charitable funding the team has received, will enable them “to offer 10 million tests for research purposes to countries that cannot support very high-tech solutions.”
Prof Townsend says they have already supplied their antibody test, free of charge, to researchers in twenty-one different countries. At present, the test is being used to facilitate major studies in Norway, Colombia, Taiwan and Sri Lanka.
The research team, which includes scientists from Taiwan, India, Thailand and France, as well as UK university and NHS researchers, hopes that the test will be used longer-term to identify those who have generated antibodies after a vaccine, versus those who may need a booster.
This exciting development comes as the Office for National Statistics (ONS) releases new data indicating that over a half of the UK population now has antibodies against the coronavirus – developed either through past infection or vaccination.
The ONS analysis is based on blood test results, taken from a randomly selected subsample of people aged 16 and over. Antibody rates were highest in older people; more than 80 per cent of over 65s in England had detectable antibodies.
This is a steep increase from the one in three individuals detected with coronavirus antibodies in the ONS’s previous data round-up in mid-March. The figures are highly encouraging. But the newly-developed Oxford antibody test will enable us to test for antibody levels much more easily, improving our understanding of immune defenses across populations.