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A serology test can tell if you’ve contracted the coronavirus and are immune to the disease. – CATHERINE KOHLER / SIPA
US health authorities have approved the Roche laboratory test that measures the level of antibodies in people who have been exposed to the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes Covid-19, the Swiss group announced Wednesday. . This serology test called Elecsys Anti-SARS-CoV-2 has been approved with emergency clearance by the US pharmaceutical agency, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Roche said in a statement.
Performed from a blood sample, this test had already been launched in September in countries that accept the European CE conformity marking. It measures antibodies against the spike protein (protein S), a protein spike that surrounds the capsid membrane of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and allows the virus to enter human cells.
A result in eighteen minutes
Many vaccines currently under study try to trigger an antibody response against this protein, the Swiss group recalled, specifying that this test can be used to measure the immune response of patients and monitor its evolution over time. It could also be used for plasma donations, one of the avenues studied in the still very limited range of treatment options against the novel coronavirus.
The test is carried out on the analysis machines of the Swiss group, available in many hospitals and analysis laboratories. They allow you to get a result for this test in about eighteen minutes, Roche said.
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