BERLIN—To better understand how the CCP virus spreads, Germany is carrying out the largest antibody testing regime in Europe.
German scientists hope to find out how widespread undiagnosed infections are, how deadly the virus is, and whether parts of the population have become immune.
Antibodies detected in blood indicate whether the person’s immune system has encountered the virus.
One antibody study just got underway in Munich. It samples 3,000 households for a whole year.
“Determining the estimated number of unknown cases is very important,” said Dr. Andreas Wieser, from the Department of Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine at the University of Munich.
University staff go from door to door to recruit participants.
“First, the people will be informed about the procedure and the study by our teams; they need to know what is happening. They need to answer a couple of questions on a daily basis. We take some 3 milliliters of blood which will be tested for antibodies,” said Dr. Laura Olbrich, of the Department of Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine at the University of Munich.
Scientists hope more data on the spread of infections can provide insight into how effective social distancing and other measures have been. And that could help politicians decide when and how to ease them.
Scientists caution that there is no proof yet that antibodies confer protection against the virus. And it’s also not clear yet how long such immunity would last.
More antibody studies are underway or scheduled to begin in Germany.
One is utilizing samples from blood banks across the country. Another takes a closer look at hotspot communities.
And the largest and most representative study will involve 15,000 people at over 150 locations. It starts next month.
Some observers say since there are still many unknowns about the virus, it is too early to use results from these studies to justify easing measures.
Reuters contributed to this report.
