COVID-19 antibody tests that deliver a result on the spot are unreliable enough that they should stop being used immediately, according to new Canadian-led research.
The research, which was published Wednesday in The BMJ, involved a review of all known studies about the effectiveness of the antibody tests.
Serological tests are used to determine whether a person has developed antibodies against COVID-19, which would suggest that they have already fought off the disease once and are theoretically immune to a second infection. Although this idea might sound promising – allowing those who have already had COVID-19 to live their lives with limited restrictions while those who have not can remain in isolation – health authorities including the World Health Organization and Canada's chief public health officer
The researchers found that the studied serological tests fared relatively well when it came to avoiding false positives, with this happening between 0.3 per cent and 3.4 per cent of the time. In the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have warned that antibody tests can deliver false resultsAccording to the researchers, their findings suggest that if LFIA tests are given to 100 people who have had COVID-19 and 900 who have not, 34 of those with the antibodies will be wrongly told they do not have them, and 31 of those without will be wrongly told they do.
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