I know y’all are about tired of hearing of the covid-19 because I for sure am, but this week I will be discussing these things called IgG and IgM antibodies to Covid-19 and what they mean.
Also a super cool story that I read the other day was about a 104 year old World War 2 veteran was diagnosed with Covid-19 and survived. This mans fought in World War 2 and said that this dumb Covid-19 ain’t nothing. Quoting the man on how he beat the virus he said “I don’t know. It just went away. Sit out here and you can get rid of anything.”, he is the world’s oldest known survivor of Covid-19. Not only did he survive the Covid-19 he also lived during the Spanish Flu Outbreak in 1918, where he contracted the virus and survived that. This man has a immune system of steel. If you are interested in the story follow this link.
Now to discussing the antibodies and what they mean.
When you hear of the testing that are occurring for Covid-19, they are testing for specific antibodies and if they are present in your body: IgM and IgG antibodies.
IgM antibodies are the primary response of the immune system to a virus in your body. These IgM antibodies represent a short-term immunity for the body and help fight off a virus that is normally still present in your body. When you test positive for IgM antibodies that means that the virus has been present for about 5 days and this because that is about how long it takes for you body to produce these antibodies.
Now if you test positive for both IgM and IgG antibodies that means that your body is on its way to producing long term immunity to protect your body from this virus. The presence of IgG bodies occurs about 2 weeks after the onset of Covid-19, because this is the secondary response of the complement system.
If a person tests positive for only IgG antibodies that means that your body has built up long term immunity and this usually occurs after 14 days of onset of symptoms. What this means is that your body has produced cells that will recognize the antigens from Covid-19 and will produce a proper response to this virus limiting its effects or giving you the ability to fight it off. But, just because your body has the antibodies present to fight the virus it doesn’t mean you are virus free. A person could test positive for IgG antibodies and be a carrier for the virus. This means that someone who tests IgG positive could still be infectious and could transmit Covid-19.
I hope everyone is staying safe out there and doing everything they can do to limit the spread of this virus. As of today, there are 1,847,095 total confirmed cases and 113,902 deaths world wide and mid week we will be well on our way to 2,000,000 confirmed cases world wide. I don’t want to scare you but I want to inform you, follow this link to check my facts.
Much love, Matty Ice signing off! Peace!!