[UPI] Antibody testing might help determine whether people have had COVID-19, but its effectiveness depends on when the test occurs, according to an analysis published Thursday by the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews.
In general, the tests were better at detecting COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, two or more weeks after the onset of symptoms, the reviewers found.
It's unclear, however, how effective tests are in those checked more than five weeks after symptoms first appeared, researchers said.
"We do not know if this is true for people who have milder disease or no symptoms, because the studies in the review were mainly done in people who were in hospital," the researchers said in a press release.
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