B.C. will start trialing potential antibody or serology tests on patients who have recovered from COVID-19 and are therefore most likely to have developed antibodies for the virus.
Serological tests are diagnostic blood tests used to determine whether an individual has developed antibodies in response to an infection.
At the moment, Canada has not approved any serology tests to be conducted on the general population.
However on Tuesday, B.C.’s provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said that the BCCDC has been testing 17 different versions of serology tests, a couple of which show promise.
See also: These are the criteria for declaring a COVID-19 patient fully recovered in B.C.
Public health authorities are developing protocols as early as this week to trial these tests on some of the people who have recovered from the virus to see if the tests detect their antibodies.
“The challenge has been with some of the tests, for example ones in California, the parameters are not that great so there are both false positives and negatives,” said Dr. Henry.
BCCDC already has blood samples from people in the community ready to test using the serological tests. Dr. Henry says this will give scientists an understanding of whether anyone had antibodies against the virus before the start of the outbreak.
She says there are plans to test another cross section of population in early May with a second test in six months, in order to give time for the antibodies to develop.
Testing a broader selection of B.C. residents will also help public health authorities understand how many cases went undetected during the first wave of the pandemic.
“We want to know as we go forward, as we identify cases or clusters, how can we use serology to see who might have had it and been missed in the past. So we’re working on that protocol,” said Dr. Henry.
According to the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, there are four types of serology tests, the fastest of which can provide results in 10 to 30 minutes. This Rapid Diagnostic Test (RDT) tells us whether or not antibodies are present within a sample, but cannot determine the amount of antibodies or whether they can prevent virus growth.
A second type of test, called ELISA takes two to five hours to complete, and can determine the presence of antibodies and whether or not they are able to inhibit virus growth.
Currently there are six serological tests approved for use in the United States, all of which are either RDT or ELISA tests.
See all the latest updates about the global COVID-19 pandemic on Vancouver Island
The BCCDC has set up a 2019 novel coronavirus telephone information line at 1-833-784-4397 for those who have further questions about this disease.
Anyone concerned that they may have been exposed to, or are experiencing symptoms of the novel coronavirus, should contact their primary care provider, local public health office, or call 8-1-1.
The Province has also created the 1-888-COVID-19 line to connect British Columbians needing non-medical information about the coronavirus pandemic.
As of the time of publication, the total number of COVID-19 patients worldwide has risen to 3,216,353.
Over 227,800 people have died from the illness and 999,217 have made a full recovery.
