Not Yet Proven.

[Ken4155]

It is yet to be proven that anyone having had C19 is now immune to the virus. So I cannot get my head around the fact that the antibody tests have flown off the shelves, so to speak, at Superdrug. Especially when they cost almost £70 a pop. Had the proof been there, I can well understand the rush to buy these tests. Any ABers bought one? If so, why?

[wolf63]

If the testing kit could tell me that I had had the virus and now had anti-bodies and would not get sick again or pass it on to others I would buy it.

But meantime - there may be another way of testing
https://www.virginmediatelevision.ie/player/show/809/172869/0/Ireland-AM

Pete Wedderburn is a reliable source of such stuff

[douglas9401]

£70 Covid19 test the new bogroll, read all abaht it.

You'll have to because the previous locusts have bought them all leaving a trail of despair/people laughing at their blind greed.

[wolf63]

douglas - I was on the Superdrug website yesterday and I would have considered buying one but the price stopped me.

[tiggerblue10]

Saw something like this on Twitter earlier which looks promising but still much more assurance testing needed.

https://www.wbur.org/commonhealth/2020/05/20/rhesus-macaques-coronavirus-immunity-studies-beth-israel

[Spicerack]

Are people being infected by vaccine propaganda?
Covid 1 disappeared of it's own accord, vaccine free. (like most viruses)
Why are some ABers so sure about this one mutating and that vaccination is the only answer.

[tomus42]

Naomi //I think the reason that the kits have flown off the shelves is because people want to know if they've been infected - and hence survived it. I imagine it will be like flu - around forever. //

That's it. It would be useful to know if you've already had it without really noticing. That way you could make a judgement on how much to worry about getting it again, whether you're immune or not.

[margarettom]

Spanish flu came and went, Asian flu came and went. Why do so many people assume that this won't happen with Covid?

[jno]

they had a vaccine for Asian flu. The Spanish flu just seemed to run out of potential victims as people either died or recovered and became immune. The former solution sounds preferable.

[Spicerack]

It's preferable to have a vaccine(every year) to a virus disappearing of its own accord?

[jim360]

What even is vaccine propaganda?

[jim360]

Also, viruses don't "disappear of their own accord" unless they run out of people to infect and/or kill. If a virus can kill then it seems preferable to find a defence of some sort, rather than wait for it to burn through the population.

[aelmpvw]

// I can well understand the rush to buy these tests//
i cant, you could contract the virus while you were in the store buying the antibody test kit ...

[Spicerack]

jim360 //Also, viruses don't "disappear of their own accord" unless they run out of people to infect and/or kill.//

Wrong.

[woofgang]

virusses are not sentient, they don't have an accord. While they can survive they will.

[woofgang]

ael, you can purchase them online.

[1ozzy]

I think a virus needs a host.
Doesn't matter what species it is.
Without a host it may well die.

[Ken4155]

That's how they were sold - on line. If having had the virus meant certain immunity from catching it again, I could well understand the virtual stampede. But that, as I said, is not yet proven.

[woofgang]

1ozzy. It has already demonstrated that it can jump hosts.....also viruses are not living as such (Its life, Jim, but not as we know it) some are able to spend long periods dormant (latent) in a recovered host and then spring back into replication mode eg chicken pox.

[jim360]

Wrong how, spicerack? A virus spreads until it can no longer spread. Perhaps you were thinking that I meant that "runs out of people" means that "it infects the whole population", and, if so, I should clarify that I didn't mean that. Depends on the rate of transmission, for example. But as a rule a virus won't disappear until it runs out of people to infect. Whether that's the entire population or merely a large part of it, it's clearly preferable to intervene if possible.

It may be of course that a vaccine is developed "too late", or is ineffective except seasonally, but it's also clear that without a vaccine the only strategy to prevent the virus spreading is to restrict social contacts (or give up and wait for herd immunity to be a thing).

[bednobs]

Perhaps later on in the not too distant future there will bee proof that having the antibodies does confer immunity. Then the people who have already been tested positive will know in advance they are "ok". If it is proved that anti odies confer immunity you can bet the whole world's population will want tests :)