Blood industry collaborates with CDC and NIH on large scale SARS-CoV-2 antibody testing survey

5/28/2020

Blood collection organizations, testing laboratories and affiliated research institutes continue to play a critical role in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and blood centers across the country are proud to be at the forefront. 

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What antibody tests can teach us about potential coronavirus immunity

4/22/2020

Antibodies are one of the ways the human body fights infection from the coronavirus. Researchers believe testing for covid-19 antibodies can lead to possible treatments for the virus and help indicate when to reopen society.

Arizona pilot program to start collecting plasma from recovered COVID-19 patients

4/7/2020

People who have recovered from COVID-19 may have an outlet to help those ill with the disease caused by the new coronavirus: Donating their plasma.

In Arizona, a blood donation company, Vitalant (formerly United Blood Services), is starting to allow recovered patients to donate as part of a pilot program.

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Could a blood test for coronavirus antibodies get California back to normal? Lots of questions remain

4/7/2020

Blood tests for antibodies to the novel coronavirus will be “foundational, fundamental,” to sending Californians back to work, California Gov. Gavin Newsom said on Monday. But medical experts caution that there’s still a lot we don’t know about whether the tests are reliable enough to ensure people’s safety.

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Unprecedented nationwide blood studies seek to track U.S. coronavirus spread

4/7/2020

We still don’t know how many people have been infected with the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2. Not only have countries struggled to roll out wide-scale testing for the virus, those efforts inevitably will miss people who have recovered from an infection. The best way to figure out how far and wide the virus has spread in a population is to look at blood. Antibodies, blood proteins that the immune system produces to attack pathogens, are viral fingerprints that remain long after infections are cleared. Sensitive tests can detect them even in people who never felt a single symptom of COVID-19.

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Bay Area scientists hope coronavirus antibody tests reveal the key to immunity

3/31/2020

In a new frontier to fight COVID-19, Bay Area researchers are racing to develop new blood tests that can not only help diagnose the disease, but could help determine whether people become immune after catching it and lay the groundwork for a vaccine.

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