Newly FDA-approved T-cell test could be big improvement over COVID-19 antibody screens

Antibodies, T-Cells attacking coronavirus.
(Image credit: iStock.)

The Food and Drug Administration on Friday granted emergency use authorization to a first-of-its-kind T-cell test, which is aimed at detecting previous coronavirus infections.

Currently, antibody tests serve as the primary means for determining whether someone had COVID-19, but accuracy levels vary, and studies have shown antibody levels wane after a few months, which means the timing of the test is key. T-cells, another component of the body's immune system, generally have a longer memory, making them a strong candidate to provide people with a more reliable answer about past infections.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Per ABC News, researchers are hopeful the T-cell test will be particularly useful for so-called COVID-19 longhaulers, who are still experiencing symptoms long after supposedly recovering from the virus. "The T-cell test has been really useful in this long tail of COVID to help patients establish where they are," William Li, the president of the Angiogenesis Foundation, told ABC News.

The test won't be cheap, however. It comes with a $150 out-of-pocket price tag. Read more at ABC News.

Explore More
Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.