Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), IgA antibodies
Why this test?
Epidemiological screening for SARSCoV-2 in order to correctly identify all patients exposed to the SARSCoV-2 virus.
Evaluation of the immune response to COVID-19 for all population groups.
Verification of medical workers and other persons who care for patients with СОVID-19.
Additional testing in the presence of symptoms that do not exclude COVID-19 and a negative PCR result. Screening of individuals after contact with patients who have laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 or those who have arrived from countries with a high prevalence of COVID-19.
In what cases is it prescribed?
When diagnosing a recently transferred coronavirus infection, including an asymptomatic course of the disease.
In the differential diagnosis of diseases similar to the course of the COVID-19 coronavirus infection.
Test information
The COVID-19 coronavirus infection is an infectious disease caused by a new strain of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which was discovered in December 2019. COVID-19 spreads between people by airborne droplets during direct contact or through the air at a distance of about one and a half meters from each other.
After infection, symptoms of COVID-19 may appear within two weeks, mainly fever, cough, shortness of breath. Other symptoms include runny nose, loss of smell, headache, weakness, diarrhea and nausea. It is believed that the elderly, pregnant women, people with chronic diseases, and smokers are at increased risk. Asymptomatic carriers of the virus also occur, the carriers most often being children and young adults. They can transmit the virus to other people during contact, while they themselves do not develop symptoms of the disease.
A blood test for antibodies to the SARS-CoV-2 virus is a study that allows you to check the presence of antibodies in the blood to the causative agent of the new coronavirus infection, COVID-19. The infectious process is accompanied by the production of antibodies of two types: IgM and IgG. IgM antibodies are produced first, their level increases rapidly at the beginning of the infection, reaching a maximum during the acute period of the disease, and then gradually decreases, disappearing completely by the time of recovery.
Thus, they remain in the blood for about a week, and a positive analysis means that the person was exposed to the infection recently, it is in an acute form. IgG antibodies also appear in the blood in the acute stage of the infectious process, but their maximum production usually occurs 10-14 days after the infection. The detection of IgG antibodies to the causative agent of COVID-19 indicates that a person is recovering from or has already contracted a coronavirus infection. A qualitative study reflects the presence or absence of antibodies in the blood, but does not determine their concentration. To do this, a quantitative test is performed, which shows antibody titers, which allows you to determine the stage of the infectious process and makes it possible to calculate the intensity of immunity, that is, the level of immunity to this infection.
