Neutralizing antibodies have been identified for the first time in the blood of eight people in Japan who tested positive for the coronavirus, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said Tuesday.
The ministry will examine how long the antibodies will remain effective in the body.
The tests were conducted in early June on about 8,000 people in Tokyo, Osaka and Miyagi prefectures. Two test methods were used, which were developed by different overseas companies and were approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for emergency use. The eight persons tested positive in both tests.
A subsequent thorough investigation by the National Institute of Infectious Diseases detected neutralizing antibodies in the blood of all eight persons.
On the other hand, the antibodies were not detected in the blood of 30 people who tested positive with only one of the tests. According to the ministry, they were possibly either false-positive, in which a person with no antibodies is tested positive -- or positive with antibodies that are ineffective in preventing infection. If the two tests are used together, it will help to predict such things as how many people will not be infected, the ministry said.
Tetsuya Mizutani, a professor at Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology and a specialist in virology, said: "It has been pointed out that the results of antibody tests vary depending on the type of test. The discovery of an accurate method to identify people with a history of infection is significant."
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