Antibodies… the Way to Freedom

With all that’s going on right now, I’m pretty sure we all just want this pandemic to come to an end already. The scientists aren’t just sitting around and watching it happen though, that’s for sure. Labs are in full swing doing numerous tests trying to figure out how to put an end to Covid19. The goal is to basically make everyone immune, because without that, we’d be stuck in our homes for who knows how long. I guess we really don’t know how long we WILL be stuck in our homes though. One step to reaching this goal, includes antibodies.

For a while now, we have had tests to determine who has the infection, but now we can determine who had the infection already, but it has passed.  You might have had it without even knowing! And who knows who you gave it to… that’s a scary thought. Now with this test, we’re able to see more of a pattern and see how truly contagious and deadly (or not deadly) it is. Different nations are taking different pools out of their population and taking blood to study their antibodies, which will lead to the findings. Taking out the antibodies, may lead to this foreign concept of Covid-19 considering immunity because they may lead to protection. It is still largely up in the air whether this actually will lead to protection or not. If it doesn’t we’re kinda screwed. Vaccines aren’t predicted to be released for another 18 months. YIKES.  

When it comes to types of antibodies produced in our body, we are able to test based on our immunoglobulin production, IgM and IgG. IgG is the most abundant antibody in our body, whereas IgM is found predominately in our blood and lymph.  Which immunoglobulins are present will determine whether you had/have the virus. Testing positive for only IgM would indicate that you may have just gotten the virus (uh oh). Having both IgM and IgG would mean that you’re probably in the middle of the symptoms, so hopefully you didn’t give it to anyone. Lastly, having only IgG probably means that you had Coronavirus, but its gone, so double hope you didn’t pass it to anyone. So all in all, hopefully this whole antibody testing is gonna work its magic as the scientists believe it will, because I am sick of being holed up in my home, and I bet you are too (also it sucks that there’s a lot of sick people and I’m extra nervous for my grandparents).