Volunteers Needed for COVID-19 Antibody Tests That Can Be Done from Home

Would you like to know if you've had the coronavirus? According to current data, the novel coronavirus affects people differently. Many confirmed COVID-19-infected patients go through mild symptoms, whereas three quarters of those who have it are asymptomatic. 

In order to gather more crucial information about the coronavirus, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is running a study to try and get to the bottom of the antibodies question surrounding the virus, and it needs your help. 

A U.S.-wide serosurvey is taking place, where the NIH is looking for 10,000 healthy participants to be tested for COVID-19 in order to figure out whether they have gained immunity to it thanks to antibodies.

SEE ALSO: FDA HAS AUTHORIZED COVID-19 TEST BASED ON ANTIBODIES

Serosurveys

Scientists from the NIH are looking to collect and analyze the blood samples of 10,000 volunteers who have not been diagnosed with COVID-19. The point is to determine what portion of the population in the U.S. has been infected and has mild symptoms. 

"This study will give us a clearer picture of the true magnitude of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States by telling us how many people in different communities have been infected without knowing it because they had a very mild, undocumented illness or did not access testing while they were sick," said Anthony Fauci, NIAID director, in a statement.

"These crucial data will help us measure the impact of our public health efforts now and guide our COVID-19 response moving forward."

A serosurvey is a method that assists scientists in testing blood serum from a number of volunteers to see whether antibodies are present or not. When you're infected by a virus your immune system usually develops proteins known as antibodies to fight it. If the NIH tests yield positive results, it'll prove that antibodies had been created in order to fight off the coronavirus. 

"An antibody test is looking back into the immune system’s history with a rearview mirror," explained Matthew J. Memoli, M.D., principal investigator of the study and director of NIAID’s Laboratory of Infectious Diseases Clinical Studies Unit. "By analyzing an individual’s blood, we can determine if that person has encountered SARS-CoV-2 previously."

News: NIH begins study to quantify undetected cases of coronavirus infection https://t.co/a6lK2YDYOG

— NIH (@NIH) April 10, 2020

People interested in participating in the study have to be 18 years old or older, be based in the U.S., you may be able to participate by sending your details to the NIH team's email [email protected]. 

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