The Complete Guide And Benefits Of Getting An Antibody Test

Most people who recover from viruses tend to develop vital defense mechanisms called antibodies. If you have been vaccinated against COVID-19, you must ask yourself, where can I find urgent care antibody test? Antibodies against a virus also develop in people who have received vaccinations against that particular virus. This means that the body has a certain level of immunity that allows it to fight and defeat the virus if it shows up again. There are many benefits from care devices and tests to detect antibodies. One of them is that they help to diagnose infections that may be fatal. Other benefits include self-testing and the rapidity of test results. You don't need to go to a laboratory to know whether you have developed antibodies.

What is Antibody Testing?

As we mentioned, antibodies usually form when a virus infects a person. To recover from an ailment or a viral infection, the body must create a defense against the virus. COVID-19 antibody tests allow doctors to know whether a person has antibodies against the SARS-COV-2 virus. Presents of Covid-19 antibodies show that a person had Covid-19 in the past and recovered by developing antibodies that fought and defeated the virus. A Covid-19 antibody test is also known as a serology test, and you can quickly get one by searching for urgent care antibody tests online. 

Since antibodies usually develop in the blood, the test is conducted by drawing the patient's blood sample and testing it for antibodies. The presence of antibodies indicates that the person contracted Covid-19 in the past. It often takes 10 to 18 days for the body to develop antibodies after a COVID-19 infection. 

Also Read: Arleta Covid-19 Antibody Testing: What We Know?

How Does an Antibody Test Work?

Once you have searched for urgent care antibody test, you need to understand how the test is done. A blood sample is drawn from the patient by pricking the fingertip to perform an urgent care antibody test. This test aims to find one or both types of SARS-COV-2 antibodies. SARS-CoV-2 is the virus that causes Covid-19. The two types of antibodies include:

• IgM antibodies

IgM antibodies often develop in the early stages of the infection. Once a person contracts the SARS-COV-2 virus and expands symptoms, these antibodies will set immediately after acquiring the SARS-COV-2 virus. 

• IgG antibodies 

These types of antibodies usually occur later on after infection. It may take days or weeks to show up after an illness. 

Antibody tests and their functions

Antibody tests allow doctors, scientists, and researchers to measure the level of antibodies in the body, including the blood, serum, or plasma. Determining a vaccine's efficiency, including vaccine-induced immunity, requires exploring these antibodies to see their reaction against the virus. Once an infection occurs, the body may respond by creating one of the three antibodies against the SARS-COV-2 virus. These three include IgA, IgG, and IgM antibodies. IgG antibodies are preferable because they stay in the blood for a long time, making the body immune to the virus for a long time. However, they often show up much later after an infection. Antibody tests available now can detect both IgM and IgG antibodies. IgM antibodies show up a few days after symptoms but disappear much sooner than IgG antibodies.

What are the types of antibody tests?

Antibody tests come in many types for testing different types of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies. The body can create five main types of antibodies that include:

• Immunoglobulin D (IgD).
• Immunoglobulin G (IgG).
• Immunoglobulin E (IgE).
• Immunoglobulin A (IgA).
• Immunoglobulin M (IgM).

Most doctors performing antibody tests often try to look for either IgG or IgM antibodies. When an infection occurs, the first antibody that the body will create is the IgM antibody. Once exposed to the virus, it will take about ten days for the body to develop IgG or IgA antibodies. The IgG antibodies stay in the body much longer than IgM antibodies. An antibody test will easily pick these antibodies because they remain for months and years in the body. They don't stay for long once they develop, becoming undetectable when an urgent care covid antibody test is done. All the information about Covid-19 antibody testing is accessible when you go online and search for urgent care antibody tests. 

What happens during an antibody serology test?

While performing an antibody test in urgent care, a healthcare physician will start by drawing a blood sample from the patient. This may be done from the fingertip through pricking or using a syringe to draw blood from the arm. Once the doctor inserts the needle into the arm's vein, he will collect some blood into a vial or a test tube. Collecting the blood sample does not hurt. You will only feel a slight pinch when the needle goes in. 

Once the blood is collected, the technician will place a bandage on your arm to stop further bleeding. Antibody testing is also used to test the levels of specific Covid-19 antibodies in the blood. An antibody test usually takes about 5 minutes to perform. 

Benefits of an Antibody Test

Accuracy

The precision of an antibody test often depends on the test facility. At Arleta Urgent Care Clinic, you will always get reliable and accurate results from an antibody test compared to other clinics that conduct these tests. The sensitivity or actual positive rate at our clinic is 100%.

Efficiency 

Arleta Urgent Care Clinic offers fast, reliable, and unmatched results. We have an online portal that provides patients with Covid-19 antibody tests within 24 hours. 

Interactivity

After having an antibody test at Arleta urgent care clinic, healthcare professionals will help you to understand the results. Our telehealth platform is entirely confidential, and you don't have to worry about your health information. 

Convenience

Arleta Urgent Care Clinic also offers mobile testing sites for employees, which is the kind of convenience companies are looking for, where employees get tested and return to the office afterward. 

To know your status.

Not all patients who contract Covid-19 show symptoms. Doctors can use antibody test results to make critical clinical decisions based on your medical history. If you are an asymptomatic patient, an antibody result will help you know whether you were infected with the virus without your knowledge. 

To understand disease prevalence.

Getting antibody tests done in a widespread area allows scientists, doctors, and researchers to understand better how deadly the virus is and how many people got infected at a specific time. This data is helpful to Arleta Urgent Care since researchers can predict future Covid-19 infection patterns and trends. It also helps to understand why some people undergo severe symptoms more than others.

For convalescent plasma therapy

Antibody testing is vital because it allows patients with antibiotics to share them with those who don't have them through a therapy known as convalescent plasma.

What do the results mean?

At Arleta, Urgent Care Clinic, patients receive antibody results in three ways. Test results from an antibody test are determined by the kind of antibodies being measured. The level of antibodies is given as titers; an adverse effect shows that you don't have any Covid-19 antibodies, and a positive impact shows that you got infected with Covid-19 but managed to fight it and recover. Below are typical results that may come from a Covid-19 test:

• Positive for antibodies against a specific pathogen. Suppose the results from an antibody test turn out to be positive for a particular pathogen. In that case, it means that you are either vaccinated against a specific disease or were infected with Covid-19 in the past. 
• Low levels of specific antibodies were found. Receiving such a result means that antibody levels in your system are insufficient to offer complete immunity against the virus. You may need to get a booster shot to increase your immunity. 
• Autoantibodies were found. Antibodies that attack healthy body cells by mistake are known as autoantibodies. These antibodies are also detectable by a Covid-19 antibody test. This shows that you are suffering from an autoimmune disease.

See More: How Does the Coronavirus Antibody Test Work?

Who is the test for? 

• An antibody test is recommended for persons who constructed the SARS-COV-2 virus and recovered from it and want to know whether they developed antibodies. 
• It is also an ideal test for persons who have never been screened for Covid-19 and want to know if there was exposure to the virus at some point. 
• An antibody test is also suitable for people who have received the COVID-19 vaccine and are curious to know if their antibodies are detectable.

Takeaway

An antibody test is meant to help you understand if you were previously exposed to the SARS-COV-2 virus and defeated it by developing antibodies against it. Arleta, urgent care clinic, is clinically equipped to offer diagnostic COVID-19 PCR tests free of charge to persons who qualify for antibody tests in Arleta. Any patient with or without health care insurance can get a Covid-19 antibody test at Arleta Urgent Care Clinic. You can also get tested for antibodies even if you are not documented by searching for an "urgent care antibody test." An antibody test is, however, not a practical diagnostic PCR test for travelers. A physician will evaluate how you respond to medical screening questions to determine your eligibility for a diagnostic COVID-19 PCR test. 

If you have any questions about antibody testing, please do not hesitate to contact us at 818-746-2626 or Schedule an Appointment.