Simple explanation.....

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

For those who were concerned about possible reinfection of Covid 19, it looks like South Korea tracked down the reason.

The testing method can also pick up fragments of viruses that have not yet cleared from the body.  Fragments of dead virus, that cannot infect.

This is one of the drawbacks you encounter when you go looking for a specific strand of DNA/RNA for testing.  It does not differentiate between live and dead, just that it is there.

www.yahoo.com/news/south-korea-says-recovered-coronavirus-133600512.html

[Deleted]

Mich, did you see my post on another thread about my local blood bank appealing (via FB) for plasma donations from people who had survived COVID-19?   I know that earlier you had lamented the lack of research on donated blood to determine the extent of infection because of various legal roadblocks.  I'm curious as to whether this appeal is for research or treatment- or both.  That's one donor group I hope never to join!

We're learning so much about this in such a short time.  It would be more interesting if it weren't such a catastrophe.   Thanks for the reassuring news on the "positive" tests. 

[oped]

Yes. This was another piece of good news this week.  

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Apr 30, 2020 14:44:49 GMT -5 @athena53 said:

Mich, did you see my post on another thread about my local blood bank appealing (via FB) for plasma donations from people who had survived COVID-19?   I know that earlier you had lamented the lack of research on donated blood to determine the extent of infection because of various legal roadblocks.  I'm curious as to whether this appeal is for research or treatment- or both.  That's one donor group I hope never to join!

We're learning so much about this in such a short time.  It would be more interesting if it weren't such a catastrophe.   Thanks for the reassuring news on the "positive" tests. 

I suspect it is a bit of both.  I saw a scrolling blurb running across the bottom of my screen where they were going to start work on blood bank samples.  I think that this was last week.

In reality, having them test your blood for antibody and being a donor of plasma isn’t a bad thing.  It gives you information you do not have on yourself that you do not have to pay for!

I am really curious about our antibody status.  We flew through several international airports to get home from South America.  One night in Iguazu Falls, we had dinner with an Asian couple from San Francisco.  A few weeks later, TD was sick....bad cough and fever.  I had a bad cough, no fever.  Timing early (but was it really?) symptoms very mild.  Who knows?

[pulmonarymd]

Apr 30, 2020 14:44:49 GMT -5 @athena53 said:

Mich, did you see my post on another thread about my local blood bank appealing (via FB) for plasma donations from people who had survived COVID-19?   I know that earlier you had lamented the lack of research on donated blood to determine the extent of infection because of various legal roadblocks.  I'm curious as to whether this appeal is for research or treatment- or both.  That's one donor group I hope never to join!

We're learning so much about this in such a short time.  It would be more interesting if it weren't such a catastrophe.   Thanks for the reassuring news on the "positive" tests. 

The appeal is for convalescent plasma for treatment of severely ill people infected with it. Shortage at the moment. One problem is that immunoglobulin levels peak about 4 months after infection. They aren’t doing research on the extent of infection.

Antibody tests are just qualitative yes/no test. Does not show how much antibody is present. They are also of questionable reliability at present. Number of commercial labs rushed them out and have not been adequately tested. Need to have an accurate test to do widespread testing to see extent of infection. We are still at the beginning of all this

[Deleted]

Apr 30, 2020 14:59:17 GMT -5 The Walk of the Penguin Mich said:

In reality, having them test your blood for antibody and being a donor of plasma isn’t a bad thing.  It gives you information you do not have on yourself that you do not have to pay for!

Sadly, I have been decreed too old and too skinny to donate plasma, and my platelet count is normal (220) but below their min of 250. If I weighed 30 lbs. more I could do double reds but that's not gonna happen. They do get my whole blood every 8 weeks, though!

[souldoubt]

I donate regularly but I feel like every time I do the double red I don't feel normal for 3-5 days.  One of the times I did it I felt sick after possibly due to something unrelated while the other times my energy level isn't there to exercise like I normally do.  Maybe it's psychological but next week I'm just doing whole blood. 

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Apr 30, 2020 15:19:26 GMT -5 pulmonarymd said:

Apr 30, 2020 14:44:49 GMT -5 @athena53 said:

Mich, did you see my post on another thread about my local blood bank appealing (via FB) for plasma donations from people who had survived COVID-19?   I know that earlier you had lamented the lack of research on donated blood to determine the extent of infection because of various legal roadblocks.  I'm curious as to whether this appeal is for research or treatment- or both.  That's one donor group I hope never to join!

We're learning so much about this in such a short time.  It would be more interesting if it weren't such a catastrophe.   Thanks for the reassuring news on the "positive" tests. 

The appeal is for convalescent plasma for treatment of severely ill people infected with it. Shortage at the moment. One problem is that immunoglobulin levels peak about 4 months after infection. They aren’t doing research on the extent of infection.

Antibody tests are just qualitative yes/no test. Does not show how much antibody is present. They are also of questionable reliability at present. Number of commercial labs rushed them out and have not been adequately tested. Need to have an accurate test to do widespread testing to see extent of infection. We are still at the beginning of all this

I developed a way to quantify antibody tests awhile ago, but it wasn’t a quick yes or no test that I guess they are now using.  Unfortunately, I never published it as we rarely wrote assay protocols for publication.  I think my only novel protocol I developed in 30 years that I ever published was in BioTechniques....and that was only because we were between studies to keep busy. 

Thinking back, there was a lot we should have published....but the ole lack of time.  We needed published papers for grants.  However, putting together a paper for publication of a protocol/technique takes as much (or more time) as one that answers a question, but it has a lot less value into it.  

[pulmonarymd]

Apr 30, 2020 17:40:55 GMT -5 The Walk of the Penguin Mich said:

Apr 30, 2020 15:19:26 GMT -5 pulmonarymd said:

The appeal is for convalescent plasma for treatment of severely ill people infected with it. Shortage at the moment. One problem is that immunoglobulin levels peak about 4 months after infection. They aren’t doing research on the extent of infection.

Antibody tests are just qualitative yes/no test. Does not show how much antibody is present. They are also of questionable reliability at present. Number of commercial labs rushed them out and have not been adequately tested. Need to have an accurate test to do widespread testing to see extent of infection. We are still at the beginning of all this

I developed a way to quantify antibody tests awhile ago, but it wasn’t a quick yes or no test that I guess they are now using.  Unfortunately, I never published it as we rarely wrote assay protocols for publication.  I think my only novel protocol I developed in 30 years that I ever published was in BioTechniques....and that was only because we were between studies to keep busy. 

Thinking back, there was a lot we should have published....but the ole lack of time.  We needed published papers for grants.  However, putting together a paper for publication of a protocol/technique takes as much (or more time) as one that answers a question, but it has a lot less value into it.  

Except knowing how to do something is important and can save time in the future. Just more evidence of how short sighted we can be at times

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Apr 30, 2020 17:58:53 GMT -5 pulmonarymd said:

Apr 30, 2020 17:40:55 GMT -5 The Walk of the Penguin Mich said:

I developed a way to quantify antibody tests awhile ago, but it wasn’t a quick yes or no test that I guess they are now using.  Unfortunately, I never published it as we rarely wrote assay protocols for publication.  I think my only novel protocol I developed in 30 years that I ever published was in BioTechniques....and that was only because we were between studies to keep busy. 

Thinking back, there was a lot we should have published....but the ole lack of time.  We needed published papers for grants.  However, putting together a paper for publication of a protocol/technique takes as much (or more time) as one that answers a question, but it has a lot less value into it.  

Except knowing how to do something is important and can save time in the future. Just more evidence of how short sighted we can be at times

I know.  When I went out sick, I probably had a dozen or more papers that needed to be written.  That data is long gone, unfortunately.  

Other things took priority.