Quantitative COVID antibody tests with levels

We at Olive have partnered with Virtus Respiratory Research to offer you their revolutionary IgM and IgG quantitative COVID-19 antibody tests with levels.

All tests are registered with the MHRA and are CE marked, and carefully validated against community-based COVID-19 cases.

Antibodies are proteins produced by the immune system in response to infection or vaccination. These antibodies identify viruses and bind to them, blocking them from entering our cells. If a person has been previously infected with or vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2, they are likely to have these antibodies in their blood.

Testing for antibodies is important to understand a persons level of protection. It is a powerful tool to understand the level of immunity to SARS-CoV-2 that individuals may have developed, how to better protect themselves and others and get a comprehensive idea of the degree of protection within a community.

The Virtus antibody test is a quantitative test that will provide a numerical value for the strength of the antibody response (from zero to a maximum of around 3), this number will determine whether an individual has a weak, medium, strong or very strong antibody response.

Your first test will establish a baseline level for your antibody response, which means you will be able to test again in the future to see if your level is changing over time.

The 4 types of tests

1. The standard Wuhan Spike S1 test is useful for monitoring how you have responded to any of the commercial COVID vaccines. You can use this test to monitor change in antibody levels over time. It can also assess whether or not you have been infected by SARS-CoV-2, but only if you have not been vaccinated.
2. The Delta Spike S1 test tells you how good your existing immunity is to this variant that causes more severe disease.
3. The Omicron Spike S1 test is particularly useful, as the Omicron variant is very different from the original strain identified in Wuhan. Therefore people’s levels of antibody against the Omicron variant are much lower than against Wuhan, with a 75% reduction in IgG levels. We feel this is a particularly useful test, as Omicron is the main variant strain circulating now and there will be different levels of immunity to it in the population.
4. Finally the Nucleocapsid (N) test can determine SARS-CoV-2 exposure by natural infection versus vaccination, as all vaccines use of the S1 (Spike) antigen and not N. Therefore if you have antibodies to N, it is proof that at some point you have been infected with SARS-CoV-2.

How does the test work?

The test runs on a form of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), a commonly used biochemical test that can be used to detect antibodies to many infectious diseases. A small amount of an individual’s blood is mixed with a solution that contains antigens from the virus. If COVID-19 antibodies are present, they will recognise and bind to these viral proteins.

For high or very high positives, the specificity of the test is 100%. For moderate to very high antibody positives, the lab is almost 100% certain they are not false positives. For moderate level positives, the specificity is 99.5%. This means for moderate antibody positives, one in 200 tests could be a false positive. For low level positives, the specificity of our test is 98.6%. This means for low antibody positives, 1.4 in 100 tests could be a false positive.

Reading your result

An overall result of “Negative” means that any IgM or IgG antibodies to the SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) S1 spike protein that may have been present in your blood sample were not detected by this test. This could be because:

• You have been infected, but your immune system has produced antibodies that do not bind to the SARS-CoV-2 S1 spike protein in our test
• You have been infected, but the infection was mild and the antibodies you produced are below the detection limit of the test (if you have had typical COVID-19 symptoms, the first two of our three explanations are the most likely explanations)
• You have not previously been infected.

Receiving an overall result of “Positive” from this test confirms that you have had COVID-19 in the past and that your immune system has mounted a memory immune response against the virus that is detectable by this test – a positive result for either IgM or IgG gives an overall positive result. For those that are positive, the result will also show you have a low, medium, high or very high number of antibodies to SARS-CoV-2, with a numerical value for your antibody level – indicating the strength of your immune response to SARS-CoV-2.

This test requires a normal blood sample from your vein, which will be taken by our professional team of experienced nurses and phlebotomists at our CQC registered clinic.

Results are available to your inbox in 48 hours from the sample being taken, they are confidential and protected.

We are also able to accommodate home visits (subject to availability and distance) and testing for corporate clients.

Don’t hesitate to contact us on 020 8550 2276 or by emailing contact@olivehealthandtravel.co.uk

Covid Tests we offer

At Olive Health and Travel Clinic, we offer all types of Covid tests such as:

General Covid Test
PCR Test for Travel
Rapid Antigen Test
Antibody Blood Tests