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Maria Van Kerkhove, the technical lead on the pandemic for the WHO, cautioned against reading too much into these results in a recent briefing. \"We need to put these into context over a large number of studies across multiple countries,\" she said.

Interpreting results

Beyond the actual reliability of these tests there remain major gaps in our understanding of antibodies, which can affect the way we interpret the results. Experts still don't know for certain when the antibodies will appear and whether or not they will reach detectable levels. Moreover, they are still not certain whether or not the presence of antibodies indicates any form of protection from future infection.

Even with laboratory-based antibody tests, which experts say are more reliable and quantify the level of antibodies present unlike rapid assays, questions regarding how to clinically interpret the data persist.

\"What we do in the laboratory is provide objective evidence, but the antibody -- even though it will get measured properly -- we just don't know what that means in a clinic sense,\" said Koch.

\"PHOTO:
Adrees Latif/Reuters
PHOTO: A medical practitioner takes a blood sample for the COVID 19 IgG and IgM Rapid Test, designed to detect the coronavirus antibodies, from a patient in Richmond, Texas, on April 25, 2020.
>

Major research groups are stepping up. Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics, a global nonprofit research organization, is collaborating with the WHO to develop a standardized protocol for evaluating COVID-19 tests. They hope to collaborate with other federal bodies and intend to openly share their data.

Dr. Rangarajan Sampath, FIND's chief scientific officer, said he was \"shocked\" to see large governments, such as Spain, prematurely buying thousands of antibody tests without any independent evaluations. Only after purchasing the tests from the Chinese manufacturer and running their own evaluations did they learn the tests were approximately 30% accurate, according to Caixin Global reporting.

He hopes that FIND's works provides a centralized resource of much-needed information that would provide insight on antibody test performance globally.

Sampath admitted that it takes time to set up a standardized quality control program for antibody tests for a novel virus like COVID-19. Scientists need more data and that data is simply not available yet.

\"It will happen, but it doesn't happen overnight.\" he said. Sampath advised \"not to classify antibody tests as good or bad. There's more in understanding the context in which they are used and how we think of using them. Understand the product in front of you and know how to interpret the results.\"

Eden David, who's studying neuroscience at Columbia University and matriculating to medical school later this year, is a contributor to the ABC News Medical Unit.

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