Antibody tests to help KGMU study herd immunity

Antibody tests to help KGMU study herd immunity

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Lucknow:  04.06.2020

King George’s Medical University (KGMU) has started conducting antibody tests in communities to check if herd immunity is getting developed against coronavirus.

Prof Tulika Chandra, head of transfusion medicine, who is also heading the research, said: “Tests are being done on health workers and voluntary blood donors who do not have Covid-19 symptoms or have never suffered from the disease.”

“If antibodies are found in most subjects, it would reflect herd immunity in that community. The target is to conduct 5,000 tests in three months. The first report based on the data will be released after completion of 1,000 tests,” she said.

The drive started on Thursday with the staff of the department.

Antibodies are developed by the immune system to fight against a virus. Presence of antibodies in blood shows the person has been infected earlier and developed immunity against it.

If antibodies are found in a substantial number of people in a community, it is termed as herd immunity, which has the potential to stop further spread of the virus.

Times View

Many Covid-19 cases which surfaced in the past month have been from offices and call centres. The fact indicates employees are not following the safety protocol at their workplace. As a result, several buildings have had to be shut for sanitization, disrupting the workflow in a crisis. Responsible behaviour like wearing a mask and maintaining social distancing is the need of the hour.