After two months of research is a Danish produced covid-19-antibody test now ready for use.
Thus it will be with greater certainty possible to determine whether or not the citizens tested with a blood test, have been infected with the coronavirus.
in addition to providing the individual certainty test will be able to contribute to the monitoring of the spread of infection in Denmark.
Behind the test stand Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen and Novo Nordisk.
– We can use the test to examine how widespread the infection with the covid-19 has been in the Danish population, says Peter Garred, professor at The copenhagen university hospital Diagnostic Center.
in addition to be more secure than the test, which so far has been used, the testing has the advantage that it is Danish produced.
– We know the content of all the details of the test, and moreover we can with our cooperation with Novo Nordisk and become self-sufficient in Denmark, says Peter Garred.
When they first will be offered the test, are up to the Statens Serum Institut and the Danish Regions.
– the Test is ready now, and will in practice be delivered from next week, says Peter Garred.
so Far, the antibody test, which has been used in Denmark, has been produced abroad. Among other things, the Danish Regions, the purchased test from China, the so-called Livzon-test, which has an accuracy of 75-77 percent.
It has been too low to Statens Serum Institut has wanted to use it.
The Danish test has an accuracy of 97 to 98 percent.
Yet researchers know, however, is not whether you actually are protected against infection, if you have formed antibodies against the virus, or how long the body will continue to make antibodies.
– It is something that needs to be investigated further, says Peter Garred.
in Addition to antistoftesten researchers have developed a test that can be used to examine what type of antibodies found in the blood.
The can in the longer term be used to select donors, which can provide antibodies for the treatment of patients affected by covid-19.
– In the future, when our knowledge of the covid-19 has been better, our test will hopefully also could be used to predict who will actually become immune against the virus, says Peter Garred.
Preliminary studies show that only a few in Denmark have formed antibodies against the covid-19.
Thus, showed a study from Statens Serum Institut in may, to only 1.1 percent of the 1071 representatively selected persons, had formed antibodies.