A Massive Study Aims to Find Undetected Covid-19 Cases
It could reveal the true magnitude of the pandemic
Scientists think one reason for the rapid spread of the new coronavirus is that some people who are infected don’t get any symptoms at all. These asymptomatic carriers can unwittingly spread the virus to others.
Now, U.S. government researchers want to know just how many people might have had the virus without ever knowing it. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced Friday that it is launching a study to determine the extent to which the virus has spread undetected.
Researchers plan to collect blood samples from up to 10,000 people in the United States to look for clues that a person has previously encountered the virus. To do that, scientists will analyze blood samples for the presence of antibodies, or proteins that the immune system produces to fight infection. If a person has been infected, their blood will contain antibodies specific to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19. A person with these antibodies could be immune to Covid-19, at least for a period of time.
“An antibody test is looking back into the immune system’s history with a rearview mirror,” said Matthew Memoli, MD, principal investigator of the study, in an April 10 statement. This is a different type of test…
