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Who *hasn't* had covid?

Have you had covid-19?

  • Haven't had covid-19

    Votes: 112 53.8%
  • Had covid-19 once

    Votes: 63 30.3%
  • Had covid-19 more than once

    Votes: 19 9.1%
  • I'm not sure

    Votes: 14 6.7%

  • Total voters
    208
I'm waiting to do a antibodies test that looks at one's acquired through having covid and ones acquired from the vaccine. I've not done it yet because it needs to be done and then sent right away and for some reason when I remember it's always a weekend or bank holiday ....and I'm a wuss about stabbing myself with a lancet... I'll happily take my own blood or peirce my own nose or ear....but have trouble with this.... :rolleyes:
 
I'm waiting to do a antibodies test that looks at one's acquired through having covid and ones acquired from the vaccine.

I thought they couldn't tell the difference? Was I misinformed?

I'm still on the lookout for an additional booster. This shit hasn't gone away just because a whole bunch of restrictions have been lifted. If we're being forced to "live with covid" (I fucking hate the fatalism embodied within that phrase :mad:) then we should all be entitled to protection from it. The mere fact that long covid exists should be grounds for continuous efforts to protect the general public against it.
 
I thought they couldn't tell the difference? Was I misinformed?
They can - it's down to which antibodies they look for.

How do these tests work?​


These tests measure a sample of your blood to look for two different types of antibodies to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. The body responds to the virus or vaccine by making antibodies. These antibodies are used by your immune system to help fight infection. Peak antibody levels are typically seen 4-6 weeks after vaccination or infection.


The COVID-19 antibody test measures SARS-CoV-2 N antibodies (nucleocapsid antibodies, including IgG antibodies). These antibodies will not be made in response to any vaccines currently in use. A positive result indicates exposure to the virus that causes COVID-19.


The COVID-19 vaccine immunity test measures antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 spike protein (including IgG antibodies). The spike protein is produced by the virus that causes COVID-19. The spike protein is also used by all currently available vaccines to generate an immune response. A positive result can indicate an immune response to any of the vaccines currently in use. A positive result can also occur from previous exposure to the virus that causes COVID-19.
From

 
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I'm waiting to do a antibodies test that looks at one's acquired through having covid and ones acquired from the vaccine. I've not done it yet because it needs to be done and then sent right away and for some reason when I remember it's always a weekend or bank holiday ....and I'm a wuss about stabbing myself with a lancet... I'll happily take my own blood or peirce my own nose or ear....but have trouble with this.... :rolleyes:
I had to redo the test as they didn't receive it.....anyway I did and my result was......I have no covid antibodies (I've never had it) and I do have antibodies acquired from the vaccine.
 
As far as I know, still haven't had it.
Loads of people I know have got it recently & currently.
It's feeling weird, cos my friend has it right now, and the timing points to them catching it when we were hanging out together over the weekend. There are very few points where they could have been exposed and not me, but I didn't develop any symptoms & my lft's were all negative.

Obviously sod's law would dictate that by posting this I will come down with it immediately...please sod off, sod's law, I'm still not keen on getting covid...
 
Starting to seriously think that either myself or other half is a typhoid Mary type carrier, spreading it around but not developing the symptoms ourselves. It's at least half a dozen times now over the past 6 months that we've met up with people who have then tested positive a few days later! Having seen no one else. And yet we remain negative.. (touch wood, sod's law etc....)
 
I do remember right at the beginning of 2020, when working at Heathrow briefly, I came down with some kinda flu worse than I've encountered before. That could well have been Covid. Not had it since although a lot of my mates have had it once if not twice. Although am expecting it at some point.
 
Starting to seriously think that either myself or other half is a typhoid Mary type carrier, spreading it around but not developing the symptoms ourselves. It's at least half a dozen times now over the past 6 months that we've met up with people who have then tested positive a few days later! Having seen no one else. And yet we remain negative.. (touch wood, sod's law etc....)
I've occasionally wondered the same. Over the pandemic, quite a few dozen people whom I've spent time with have either turned out to have been infected, or subsequently tested positive, yet I appear to have been untouched. Some of those have been such close squeaks, I've wondered whether I WAS infected, but completely asymptomatic.

Or it could just be a combination of sheer luck and caution.
 
Well theres certainly been no shortage of asymptomatic cases in every wave. But its also not terribly well understood why some people never seem to 'catch' a particular disease on any noticeable level. Theres probably more than one reason, including genetics and behaviours and poorly defined stuff that we tend to think of as luck.

I still havent had it as far as I know because the virus has lacked opportunities to reach me. A couple of days ago it had a theoretical opportunity via a relative, so now I have to wait any see whether it seized the moment. No confirmed covid was involved so whether this was really an opportunity remains to be seen.
 
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Well theres certainly been no shortage of asymptomatic cases in every wave. But its also not terribly well understood why some people never seem to 'catch' a particular disease on any noticeable level. Theres probably more than one reason, including genetics and behaviours and poorly defined stuff that we tend to think of as luck.

I still havent had it as far as I know because the virus has lacked opportunities to reach me.

I also do not seem to have caught it, and neither has anyone in my direct household.
I wonder if that is down to a lifestyle thing more than anything else?
I have neutropenia which means I have an incredibly low immune system. I have to be careful even if I just get an insect bite .
I am also told I should go straight to A&E if I just get the flu. . . . however I don't think I have ever actually had the flu (according to my doctor I would bloody well know if I did ). I am no more or less likely to catch the covid, but the consequences might just be a bit worse (they used to be billed as life threatening for me, but my blood doctors have eased off on that lately).

So to summarise . . . maybe there is just some way that I behave day to day that avoids contamination .
 
And/or your body has some decent line of defence that comes first, before the aspects of your immune system that arent working well.
Interesting. What might they be? In the past it's been an infection to a cut or bite that has caused the most problems. A burst blister is usually a cause for a lot of concern, but if I am very careful I can avoid an infection. The slightest infection goes absolutely nuts.

Apart from being clean, or not touching people or things, what would prevent me from getting the flu?
My daughter goes to school, I've been on crazy crowded trains/work areas.
 
Interesting. What might they be?
We probably havent even discovered all of them, or at the very least havent figured out all the small details in full. It is said that the mucosal immune system is the largest part of the entire immune system, but it often receives insufficient attention, just to give one example.
 
We probably havent even discovered all of them, or at the very least havent figured out all the small details in full. It is said that the mucosal immune system is the largest part of the entire immune system, but it often receives insufficient attention, just to give one example.


I see. . . or rather I don't.
Definitely interesting though. I do wonder why I am not constantly in hospital when I supposedly have almost no immune system.
I think my doctor just thinks I am an anal clean freak, but I'm not.
 
Was talking to my mum the other day and wondering what happened when she tested positive on a PCR (pre vaccines) and had no symptoms at all.
She had the test because there was a positive symptomatic case on the ward where she was an in patient.
Idk I wonder if I had it asymptomatic as well sometimes. I’ve been getting busy trains throughout & only switched to ffp3 masks about a year ago. Otoh I probably have been taking more preventative steps than most in this country.
Guess I’m not curious enough to cough up for an antibody test tho!
 
Changing my vote. Got my first covid today.
First positive test that is. I probably got it in Spain a couple of days ago.
I did all the masking and sanitising, but it didn't seem very popular at all in Spain. . . . though to be fair to Spain I don't think Britain is any different.
I have had four jabs because I am high risk (super low immune system), and so far it isn't outrageous. Very achy. I don't much fancy going up and down stairs and I have the worst sore throat, but I 'think' I am ok? I can't quite tell if I am getting better or worse. It's like a tapas of ills, a cough leaves for a bit but I can't move my legs, sore throat subsides for a while but my nose starts dripping.

Because of my neutropenia I was told to go to A&E if I got it, but that was in the earlier days, and as I understand it the new covids are milder? and I have been jabbed four times.
 
I would advise you to contact someone within the health service who is aware of your condition. They might want to give you specific drugs to reduce your chances of serious illness, or they may not, but if they do then its important to take such drugs quite early on so I'd want to explore this ASAP if it were me.
 
Still don’t seem to have had it, despite people all around me getting it.

That’s unless LFT’s have been lying; I’ve had a couple of “colds” since start of the pandemic. Always negative tests.

Is freak genetic immunity a thing with Covid? My parents haven’t had it either…
 
Is freak genetic immunity a thing with Covid? My parents haven’t had it either…

If there is a genetic component responsible for some people either not getting it or only getting it asymptomatically, then it wont really be a freak thing. Thinking of it as a freak thing is just a reflection of how little we understand about these things, and how getting to the bottom of such matters tends to be a fairly low priority, unfortunately. I can apply the same sort of thing to even cruder views of what factors may protect some people, eg talk that was more popular in some other countries earlier in the pandemic in regards whether certain blood types had an advantage.

The medical establishment does profess to have an interest in learning enough about risk factors that they could predict more accurately who is at risk of severe complications. And some progress is made in this area. But when it comes to genetic factors, they have real trouble getting to the bottom of the matter within a useful timeframe. For a bunch of reasons, including the depth of this field, the number of factors, the relative lack of knowledge before this pandemic started. Clues and theories exist, but a strong, well developed picture remains elusive.
 
Someone seems to be having a go at it, at least…


Starting with the targeting of discordant couples seems like a better technique than looking at unaffected clusters of close relatives.
 
I would advise you to contact someone within the health service who is aware of your condition. They might want to give you specific drugs to reduce your chances of serious illness, or they may not, but if they do then its important to take such drugs quite early on so I'd want to explore this ASAP if it were me.
I'd recommend contacting your gp ATOMIC SUPLEX they may prescribe an anti viral and as said the sooner the better. They may not but it's worth finding out.
It has been such a struggle trying to get my GP to write the letter to say I needed the extra shots, in fact after several 100% ignored attempts I just gave up. I eventually took a letter from the hospital which had to be looked up and scrutinised when I turned up for the injection.

I am feeling a bit better this afternoon so I was going to wait until tomorrow before deciding to attempt to contact my GP. I don't have the mental energy to deal with the stress right now.
Probably stupid I know, but honestly my wife looks far worse off than me right now (she has it too).
 
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