How to find serology results on uMed:
1) From study cohorts, find the relevant patient and click on the 'form status' button corresponding to their name. This will take you to the study forms page.
2) On the 'serology lab results' form, click 'view answer' button.
3) From here, select the (+) which will expand the form to show the results.
4) The results will then be displayed as pictured below.
How to interpret the serology results:
Different antibody tests:
The nucleocapsid protein may indicate the presence of COVID-19 antibodies due to infection. The test for spike protein may indicate the presence of COVID-19 antibodies either in response to previous infection or vaccination. The presence of spike proteins in the serology sample but not nucleocapsid may therefore suggest that the participant has COVID-19 antibodies as a result of vaccination, not COVID-19 infection. The presence of nucleocapsid proteins only or in combination with spike proteins may indicate previous COVID-19 infection.
| Spike protein – positive | Spike protein – negative |
Nucleocapsid protein – positive | Evidence of COVID infection at some time | COVID-19 infection is possible but the absence of a corresponding spike protein antibody makes this unlikely |
Nucleocapsid protein – negative | Spike antibodies detected are likely to be the result of vaccination | No evidence of antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 virus |
Day 1 compared to Day 28:
If a participant had active COVID-19 infection at the time of testing, it is likely that their Day 1 bloods will not yet be positive for antibodies. A change from negative to positive between day 1 and 28 may indicate that there was active infection at day 1.
Null:
If the results are reported as ‘Null’ this could mean that:
- A serology sample was not provided
- The lab was unable to process the sample due to the sample being degraded or incorrectly packaged
- The lab was unable to process the sample due to incorrect or incomplete paperwork.
We may be able to resolve incomplete or incorrect paperwork. If you are sure that a serology sample was sent to the lab, please contact alice.williams@phc.ox.ac.uk or the RAPTOR inbox (raptor@phc.ox.ac.uk) and we can follow up with the serology lab.
