Is it Possible to Identify Coronavirus with a Blood Test?

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On November 9, 2020, an anti-vaccination activist Shore Shanidze published news about the coronavirus tests on her Facebook page. According to the post, it is possible to identify the coronavirus not only with a PCR test, but a blood test as well, and that this method is used in multiple countries. The author claimed that, in Georgia, people are not allowed to conduct blood tests instead of the PCR tests, which raises questions about the trustworthiness of these tests.

The given post disseminates disinformation about the testing methods on coronavirus. Blood sample can show whether someone has been a carrier of the virus, but it does not show whether an individual is infected at the moment of making the test. PCR test, on the other hand, provides this information with a high accuracy.

  • Blood sample can show whether someone has been a carrier of the virus, but it does not show whether an individual is infected at the moment of making the test.

There are two methods of diagnosing the coronavirus: one of them identifies the virus at the moment of doing the test and the other shows, whether the tested individual has been a carrier of the virus. The existence of the virus in a body is tested through a fast antigen test or a molecular technology-based PCR test. Due to high sensitivity and specificity, the PCR test is considered a gold standard of diagnosing the disease.

Using the blood sample for diagnosing the coronavirus is the second method, which shows whether the tested individual has antibodies against the coronavirus in their blood, i.e. whether they have already carried the disease in the past. Antibodies targeting a specific virus are created in the body several days or weeks after contracting the disease. As COVID-19 is still a new virus, it is currently unknown how long the antibodies stay in the human body. Therefore, the antibody tests might not provide us with a precise answer as to whether the individual has the coronavirus at the moment of testing or whether they have been a carrier in the past.

Currently, the antibody tests are available in several countries, including the United States and RussiaAccording to the official information available on the website of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the agency has authorized several antibody tests, but none of them provide 100% accuracy and they should not be used to diagnose someone with an active infection.

The information about antibody-based rapid tests is also available in Georgia via open sources. According to the “Algorithm for Laboratory Diagnostics of the Infection (COVID-19) Caused by the Novel Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2)”, published by the Ministry of Health of Georgia, the given test has a high rate of false results and the test results often need to be re-checked.

To find out more about the methods of diagnosing the coronavirus, read a science blog written by an Associate Professor at Ilia State University, Mari Mitskhulava, for Myth Detector: How is COVID-19 Diagnosed?

  • Dissemination of Shorena Shanidze’s post.

As of 12:00 on November 11, 2020, the post published on Shorena Shanidze’s page had 27 shares. The author had posted the similar text in several public Facebook groups created around the coronavirus issue: „კორონავირუსი/COVID-19 ერთად დავამარცხოთ“ (Let Us Defeat Coronavirus/COVID-19 Together) and „კორონა აფიორა“ (Corona Fraud).


The article uses data by CrowdTangle, a Facebook search tool

Violation: Disinformation
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