It took a century for a pandemic to disturb human life once again. For hundreds of years, humans only had wars and cold wars to worry about. Then came 2019 and 2020 the year of birth and rise of Corona. A disease that came spontaneously and infected millions and took away millions of lives as well. A pandemic that brought human vulnerability to light once again, a pandemic that brought speculations, allegations, fake news, and our advancement to light.
The Corona pandemic not only showed the humans how they lacked the knowledge to quickly deal with unforeseen events but also highlighted a lot of problems in the human body. Be in testing issues, be it lacking resources or vaccine making issues, the pandemic game a reality to check to the humans.
With time Corona has become a homely concept for many, this is the new normal we live in and people have accepted Corona is here to stay. Since the virus is here to stay it is very necessary to learn more about it to be able to coexist with it. So today we look at the Coronavirus antibody test. Let’s understand IgG antibodies and IgG antibody tests in depth.
What is the Coronavirus antibody test?
A coronavirus antibody test is a test developed to detect if a person has been infected by a coronavirus in the past or not. A person infected by a coronavirus in the past may have developed antibodies because of it and if they are found to be present in the body then that indicates that a person has had covid in the past.
There are various antibodies that a person can develop after getting a covid infection and then can be detected by different types of tests.
- Immunoglobulin A
These antibodies are found in breast milk and tears. Other than that, they can be found in the respiratory tract or digestive system.
- Immunoglobulin G
These antibodies take time to form and are the most common ones that are found in the human body. They are found in blood and other fluids in the body.
- Immunoglobulin M
Found in the blood and the lymph fluid, these are the first antibodies that are developed to fight any sort of new infection that the body deals with.
- Immunoglobulin E
These are also found in blood and may come forward in situations when the body is fighting a parasite or an allergen.
- Immunoglobulin D
There is not much detail available about this kind of antibody and it is also found in the human body in small quantities.
Coronavirus antibody test
The person can be checked for IgG antibodies or IgM antibodies. An IgG antibody test can be conducted to find out if a person has suffered from the virus in the past. IgM antibody test is done to check for the more recent or active case of coronavirus. IgG antibody test and IgM antibody test can both be done together if a person needs to find out if or not, they were or are infected by the virus recently.
How is the Coronavirus antibody test conducted?
A person’s blood is taken by pricking them on the finger. The blood is checked for IgM and IgG antibodies. These antibodies determine the person’s past and present experience with covid.
Purpose of antibody testing?
A person may need an antibody test done for various reasons.
- It can help people find out about themselves. It is always better to have an issue and to know about it. If you get to know that you have had covid then you can take necessary steps to deal with the aftermath to ensure you are not in harm’s way.
- The IgG antibodies present in your body can tell you that you got covid a while back and you may soon need to get vaccinated once the antibody from the infections is about to start to go away.
- Antibody tests have also helped doctors with research and developing new methods of treatment for others.
IgG antibodies, IgM antibodies and antibody tests have become very familiar terms with the people during the Coronavirus phase.
Antibody testing price
The IgG antibodies that can be detected in the human blood can be checked for at any nearby centers. The test costs as little as 400 rupees. IgM antibodies are even cheaper to find out. IgM antibodies when compared to IgG antibodies come in at 300 rupees for a test, making them even cheaper.
Antibody testing has been around for years but with coronavirus, the test gained a new kind of prominence. IgG antibodies and IgM antibodies have the power to make a person happy or sad. The presence of IgM and IgG antibodies in the human system has brought a lot of new developments forward for doctors and have been used widely to study the virus as well and so it’s safe to say that they are very popular with people these days.
