We recently have been learning about antibody testing in class and discovering what this means when there are antibodies present. When it comes to having IgM and IgG antibodies present in your system this is apart of the primary immune response which we have spent a great amount of time learning about. There are lots of differences between these two antibodies and what each means and when they will pop up in your system. We will be exploring this today with antibody testing for the current pandemic. I find it very interesting while tragic that I am learning about all this during an actual pandemic, especially when I think about the classes leading up to the pandemic. It is important to be educated, to know what they are talking about on the news when they mention antibody testing! I am glad that I know more than I would if I was not in this class, and I enjoy being able to explain to my parents when they have questions without them having to google it! Thank you Dr. Cramer 🙂
When it comes to testing for IgM and IgG, IgM antibodies will be in ones system prior to IgG by approximately a week. These amounts will also be significantly higher after immunization of specific diseases. IgM antibodies will also die off faster than the IgG antibodies, whether this has to do with them appearing earlier than IgG, this is something I find interesting. This does not mean they cant persist for very long periods of time. There is a lot more information out there it seems or that we learn regarding the IgM antibodies rather than the IgG, they are always the ones used to compare. Most antibody tests are used for acute infections, or short-lived infections in a human host. They can also be used to determine whether pregnant women have been exposed to the illness. Some tests in the past, specifically with Yellow Fever proved that when performed with what they call an “indirect fluorescent antibody test” there shown results of increased IgG antibodies opposed to the latter.
Antibody tests look specifically for the antibodies in the patients blood. Those who have been exposed to the illness will show these antibodies in their blood stream, the question is for how long. One could never experienced symptoms and take this test to find out they had indeed carried the sickness. This is the scariest part. This is why we are living how we are today. While antibody tests do not require that much out of you, as simple as a finger prick to draw some blood, it is highly recommended now for our country to open. Those who have the antibodies would possess immunity as I mentioned earlier, even if they never experiences symptoms. This is important and a step in the right direction because these people would be able to enter the workforce again like normal, an even bigger step in the right direction. While there is only one real FDA approved test currently, lots of companies are being verified to sell them with more and more everyday. However, there are a lot of companies advertising the tests and they are ones that haven’t been approved by the FDA.
The IgG antibody is present in most body fluids and is used in your primary immune response to protect you against viral as well as bacterial infections. When the antibody test comes back and the IgG is positive but the IgM is low or negative this indicates that the person had the infection sometime in the past not currently. IgG will stay in you for life, this is where memory cells and the secondary immune response comes in. I have enjoyed greatly learning about this because I never truly understood what they meant as a kid when they would tell me that once you get chicken pox you cant get it again. I believed it to be just because thats what I was always told, not because any other factors went into it.
All of this information is vital to understanding why testing is so important in our standby world today. If we can identify who has these antibodies we will understand their immunity and start letting our country open back up. While this is still a growing opportunity, and we are learning more and more everyday, it is hope! We are going in the right direction and it is important to remember that everyday.
MicroBio 