Firefighters from across the region visited Yale New Haven Hospital Thursday to express gratitude for the efforts of hospital workers during the coronavirus outbreak.

Firefighters from across the region visited Yale New Haven Hospital Thursday to express gratitude for the efforts of hospital workers during the coronavirus outbreak.

Firefighters from across the region visited Yale New Haven Hospital Thursday to express gratitude for the efforts of hospital workers during the coronavirus outbreak.

Firefighters from across the region visited Yale New Haven Hospital Thursday to express gratitude for the efforts of hospital workers during the coronavirus outbreak.

Hundreds of coronavirus antibody tests given to Yale New Haven staff, patients

NEW HAVEN Health care workers and COVID-19 patients at Yale New Haven Hospital are being tested to see if those exposed to the coronavirus have developed antibodies to the disease and what effect those antibodies have on the body.

The tests, designed by Yale University scientists, will help better explain how COVID-19 spreads and how widely the coronavirus has spread, according to a release. Health care workers who have developed antibodies may have developed immunity and be able to care for COVID-19 patients without fear that they will be infected again.

We want to know what proportion of people were infected and if antibodies protect you from re-infection once you come out of lockdown, said Dr. Albert Ko, chairman of the Yale School of Public Healths Department of Epidemiology.

The test has not been approved for general use in patients. Giving the test to hospitalized COVID-19 patients will help establish accuracy, the release said. Researchers hope the tests will help determine whether antibodies to the coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, give immunity to COVID-19 or whether they may worsen the illness.

The concern is that antibodies in some cases can trigger an immune response known as a cytokine storm. Ko and team are also investigating whether antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 virus can in some cases be harmful by helping trigger the devastating cytokine storm immune response that can fill lungs with fluid and cause heart and kidney failure, the release said.

Cytokines are proteins created by cells, including interferons and interleukins, which may be overproduced and result in excess fluid in the lungs. It is considered a likely cause of deaths in the 1918 flu pandemic, according to Physicians Weekly.

Understanding the quality of a patients antibody response is therefore very important in giving assurance that a person is immune, said Aaron Ring, assistant professor of immunobiology, in the release. Also, if harmful antibody responses can be identified, this may suggest new therapeutic strategies for COVID-19.

While the Food and Drug Administration is expected to approve antibody tests this week, the lack of tests has slowed the ability to investigate the development of antibodies. Ko, Ring and others began using tests developed at Yale. Hundreds of health care workers and COVID-19 patients have been tested and new tests are being developed to check whether antibodies are being produced in response to other viral proteins, the release said.

Antibodies are the part of the bodys response to infection. The flu virus produces antibodies, but there are different strains of the flu, and antibodies are only effective against one strain. On the other hand, antibodies also are created by exposure to the common cold, also a coronavirus,

One key question they hope to answer is whether antibodies generated by COVID-19 actually prevent re-infection, as they do against strains of flu virus. If so, policymakers may be able to relax social distancing guidelines for those who possess these antibodies, and allow them to re-enter the workforce. However, antibodies created after exposure to the common cold, which is also a coronavirus, do not protect from being exposed again. Not all antibodies are created equal, Ko said.

We need to know what drives protective responses to the virus to help spur vaccine development, Ko said.

Other members of the research team included Dr. Camila Odio, associate research scientist Arnau Casanovas Massana and bioengineering graduate student Feimei Liu.

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Hundreds of coronavirus antibody tests given to Yale New Haven staff, patients - New Haven Register