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Hopes that coronavirus antibody tests could help the UK end its lockdown have been dealt a blow – after the World Health Organization questioned whether they offer any guarantee of immunity.<\/strong><\/p>\n The UK has placed antibody tests – which check if someone has had Covid-19 – at the centre of an eventual “back-to-work” plan to restart normal life.<\/p>\n But experts said they may not prove if someone is protected from reinfection.<\/p>\n The UK’s testing co-ordinator has also warned people not to buy private tests.<\/p>\n The government has already paid for three-and-a-half million antibody tests, but has not yet found one that is reliable enough to use – and stresses that it will not approve the use of any test until it can be sure its findings can be fully depended on.<\/p>\n Professor John Newton said the public should not purchase unapproved antibody tests until a working test is approved.<\/p>\n “We are breaking new ground with this work every day and I am confident this major research effort will make a breakthrough,” he said of efforts to develop a valid serology test, which measures levels of antibodies in blood plasma.<\/p>\n “Until then, please don’t buy or take any unproven tests. They may not be reliable for your intended use; they may give a false reading and put you, your family or others at risk.”<\/p>\n He added: “As soon as we have found a test that works for this purpose, we will be in a position to roll them out across the country as a back-to-work test.”<\/p>\n Speaking in Geneva, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Dr Maria van Kerkhove cast doubt on the benefit of rapid serology tests due to a lack of evidence around coronavirus immunity.<\/p>\n She said: “There are a lot of countries that are suggesting using rapid diagnostic serological tests to be able to capture what they think will be a measure of immunity.<\/p>\n “Right now, we have no evidence that the use of a serological test can show that an individual has immunity or is protected from reinfection.”<\/p>\n She added: “These antibody tests will be able to measure that level of seroprevalence – that level of antibodies but that does not mean that somebody with antibodies means that they are immune.”<\/p>\n Dr van Kerkhove said it was “a good thing” that so many tests are being developed, but she added: “We need to ensure that they are validated so that we know what they say they attempt to measure they are actually measuring.”<\/p>\n The first problem with antibody tests is there aren’t any that work at scale, but even if they did there are potential issues.<\/p>\n There are no guarantees that if you have antibodies against the coronavirus that you are completely immune.<\/p>\n And even if your antibodies do protect you from becoming sick, then you may be able to harbour the virus in your body and pass it to others.<\/p>\n There will be many challenges before immunity passports – when if you pass the antibody test you can go back to life as normal – will be practical.<\/p>\n This is the problem with a virus that has only been around for a couple of months – there is still too much we do not understand.<\/p>\n However, the main appeal of antibody testing is to find out how many people have really been infected with the virus.<\/p>\n Her colleague Dr Michael Ryan said antibody testing also raised ethical questions.<\/p>\n “You might have someone who believes they are seropositive [have been infected] and protected in a situation where they may be exposed and in fact they are susceptible to the disease,” he said.<\/p>\n\n
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<\/span><\/figure>\nStill too much we do not understand<\/h2>\n
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