MEMPHIS, Tennessee —
Development as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and their first four letters in spelling are where similarities in antigen and antibody tests end. They are two entirely different types of tests meant to be done at two different phases of a person's infection.
The antigen test is the newest to the coronavirus crisis. It only received FDA approval last week, are less expensive ,and can yield results within 30 minutes. These antigen tests are much like the tests being used now to determine if a person has COVID-19 right now.
The term antigen means bacteria or virus used to fight an infection as the body will do when it's sick. Like other COVID detecting tests, it's done by a nasal or throat swab sample.
Antigen tests are said by experts to be less accurate than the antibody tests, but researchers say it's spot on when detecting new cases of COVID-19.
That brings us to what exactly antibody tests are meant to do and that's to determine if a person may have previous infection against the virus and recovered.
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The antibody test is a blood test that detects the proteins produced in the body in response to COVID-19.
Local doctors tell me the antigen test won't quickly replace current tests to detect COVID-19 in patients over concern of the newness of the science and they say antigen tests aren't far off from the result times we see now.