4 ms·

Almost completely OT but: I’m almost certain I’ve had Corona, but it’s almost impossible to get the medical system to test for that where I live (for good reas

Almost completely OT but: I’m almost certain I’ve had Corona, but it’s almost impossible to get the medical system to test for that where I live (for good reasons). Will it be possible to get a test kit like this https://www.biomedomics.com/products/infectious-disease/covid-19-rt/ https://www.biomedomics.com/products/infectious-disease/covi... as private individual (in the EU)? Will that test show if I have been infected previously? The graph on this PDF suggest it https://www.biomedomics.com/?fldl=3001 https://www.biomedomics.com/?fldl=3001

lostlogin 7y ago
Out of curiosity, what changes if you have had it, recovered and been symptom free for 2 weeks? Is there something different in what you’re supposed to do.
- jaynetics 7y ago
  You're likely immune, at least for a while. You could live more normally, or join studies, or volunteer and help people out, etc.
- filleokus 7y ago
  No, not really any enormous changes. But here in Sweden we don’t have proper lockdowns (yet), and my office isn’t completely shut dow, we are just strongly recommended to work from home. If I can confirm that I’ve had it I would start going back to the office (better ergonomics) and start going out on lunches/dates, go to the gym, shop for clothes, meet older relatives etc with (almost) no fear of spreading it to other people.
  - ctchocula 7y ago
    Keep in mind that even if you have had it, people are infectious on average for 20 days from before symptoms appear [1], so it might be good to self-quarantine for a while. [1] https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/3076022/coronavirus-infects-faster-and-lasts-longer-sars-raising-new https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/3076022/coro...
    - lostlogin 7y ago
      There is also the possibility it is biphasic, although this could also be more of a problem with testing. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/29/health/coronavirus-reinfection.html https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/29/health/coronavirus-reinfe... https://theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/27/japanese-woman-tests-positive-for-coronavirus-for-second-time https://theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/27/japanese-woman-tes...
- danielh 7y ago
  Assuming immunity, you could take care of your parents, grandparents and other high-risk people. You’d have to balance the risk of a false-positive test and wrong assumptions about immunity against the risk of someone from a high risk group running errands.
omar_a1 7y ago
(Disclaimer: No medical training. Former analytical chemist.) Rapid test kits like these are your best bet if you want to go the DIY route. The only caveats I have are: 1) Unsure of the amount of blood required for this test. If it's just a pin prick you're fine, but if it requires a whole vial of blood, you will end up with some pretty nasty cuts trying to withdraw enough blood for the test. 2) Antibody tests such as these are inherently limited in their reliability. Not as reliable as the PCR tests, and that goes doubly so for these field litmus style tests. All it's really telling you is you how your body has reacted to potential exposures. A near-miss infection would show a false positive. It also takes time, so recent infections can give you a false negative. 3) If everyone on HN buys one of these because of this post, we will be depleting the available stock of these tests that could otherwise be used to save lives. Anything medical is going to be very scarce for the next several months, and we all need to do our part to help assuage the problem.
kakoni 7y ago
Btw, these samekind of test kits seem to be available in alibaba (in large quantaties that is)
stevenicr 7y ago
I did a ctrl-f to see if anyone had posted anything about testing for antibodies. As I read the symptoms and think back a bit, I am 70/30 I have had it already. I would LOVE to know if I have had it already. I can do so much more for those around me, it would also motivate me to actaully write my scathing review that I have replayed in my head about how much it sucks to not be treated with tussin-x or similar opiate when symptoms were so bad that I had. Instead I just replay it in my mind on occasion. and if I found out through some kind of antibody test that I have NOT had it, and the thing is worse than the 'non-flu' I had some weeks ago, then dang, that thing is really bad and I'm going to try to stock up on other things that are not readily available.

lostlogin 7y ago

Out of curiosity, what changes if you have had it, recovered and been symptom free for 2 weeks? Is there something different in what you’re supposed to do.

jaynetics 7y ago
You're likely immune, at least for a while. You could live more normally, or join studies, or volunteer and help people out, etc.
filleokus 7y ago
No, not really any enormous changes. But here in Sweden we don’t have proper lockdowns (yet), and my office isn’t completely shut dow, we are just strongly recommended to work from home. If I can confirm that I’ve had it I would start going back to the office (better ergonomics) and start going out on lunches/dates, go to the gym, shop for clothes, meet older relatives etc with (almost) no fear of spreading it to other people.
- ctchocula 7y ago
  Keep in mind that even if you have had it, people are infectious on average for 20 days from before symptoms appear [1], so it might be good to self-quarantine for a while. [1] https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/3076022/coronavirus-infects-faster-and-lasts-longer-sars-raising-new https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/3076022/coro...
  - lostlogin 7y ago
    There is also the possibility it is biphasic, although this could also be more of a problem with testing. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/29/health/coronavirus-reinfection.html https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/29/health/coronavirus-reinfe... https://theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/27/japanese-woman-tests-positive-for-coronavirus-for-second-time https://theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/27/japanese-woman-tes...
danielh 7y ago
Assuming immunity, you could take care of your parents, grandparents and other high-risk people. You’d have to balance the risk of a false-positive test and wrong assumptions about immunity against the risk of someone from a high risk group running errands.

omar_a1 7y ago

(Disclaimer: No medical training. Former analytical chemist.) Rapid test kits like these are your best bet if you want to go the DIY route. The only caveats I have are: 1) Unsure of the amount of blood required for this test. If it's just a pin prick you're fine, but if it requires a whole vial of blood, you will end up with some pretty nasty cuts trying to withdraw enough blood for the test. 2) Antibody tests such as these are inherently limited in their reliability. Not as reliable as the PCR tests, and that goes doubly so for these field litmus style tests. All it's really telling you is you how your body has reacted to potential exposures. A near-miss infection would show a false positive. It also takes time, so recent infections can give you a false negative. 3) If everyone on HN buys one of these because of this post, we will be depleting the available stock of these tests that could otherwise be used to save lives. Anything medical is going to be very scarce for the next several months, and we all need to do our part to help assuage the problem.

kakoni 7y ago

Btw, these samekind of test kits seem to be available in alibaba (in large quantaties that is)

stevenicr 7y ago

I did a ctrl-f to see if anyone had posted anything about testing for antibodies. As I read the symptoms and think back a bit, I am 70/30 I have had it already. I would LOVE to know if I have had it already. I can do so much more for those around me, it would also motivate me to actaully write my scathing review that I have replayed in my head about how much it sucks to not be treated with tussin-x or similar opiate when symptoms were so bad that I had. Instead I just replay it in my mind on occasion. and if I found out through some kind of antibody test that I have NOT had it, and the thing is worse than the 'non-flu' I had some weeks ago, then dang, that thing is really bad and I'm going to try to stock up on other things that are not readily available.