IgM and IgG antibody tests are not a replacement for RT-PCR tests in diagnosing an active SARS-COV-2 infection. the IgG/IgM tests can be used to identify a past infection - useful for finding asymptomatic ppl; typically ~10% false negative and <1% false positive
a big benefit of these tests is time and cost - they take 10 minutes and cost pennies to dollars. as such they can be deployed widely and used for figuring out the true infected population count and tracing/tracking infections over time and space
test requires a few drops of blood on a stick from a finger prick. IgM antibodies show up 3-10 days after an active infection and last several months, IgG antibodies show up weeks after an active infection and last years
i have done some digging on these tests.. was told there are 2 factories in China authorized to make the approved (by chinese govt) test kits... total production appears to be 1m kits/day. there are also lots of fakes/scams making their way into market
claim that these tests are WHO authorized and being used in korea, australia and italy and that germany just placed an order for 9m tests but i have not been able to independently verify these statements.. if true seems like germany may be testing large % of population
was told NO ACTIVITY by US govt (federal or local) to buy these tests but lots of private sector interest and tons of folks trying to import and use in US. 1m+ expected to start hitting the US this week .. not FDA approved for diagnostics, questionable use for research. why?
unfortunately all fed govt resources and hospital/institution/private labs are focused on scaling up daily capacity for PCR testing, with no parallel effort (that has been shared publicly) to test, acquire and use these cheap and readily available kits
if these kits do work (and govt is willing to buy from china) US could acquire 10m+ of these tests for $5 apiece and sample population of major US cities could self-administer; quickly estimate true fatality rate, R0, & trace infections
to be clear, these stats are the published stats of the chinese manufacturers, not to be generalized and unclear if true as no FDA verification has been done
