University of Denver COVID-19 Test Can Predict Disease Severity

Scientists at the University of Denver announced on February 3, 2021, a new antibody test for COVID-19 can predict if a patient will experience mild versus more severe symptoms of the virus. The revolutionary test has received an emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA).

Researchers discovered different antibody profiles between those who tested positive for COVID-19 and had severe symptoms versus those with milder symptoms using the new test.

“This antibody test has more test points than others that the FDA has approved,” says Lotta Granholm-Bentley, the founding executive director of the Knoebel Institute and one of the project’s lead researchers. “Other tests check for only a few viral antigens, whereas this one could test for as many as a dozen.”

“We also discovered that individuals who have been vaccinated for the flu in the past year exhibited more mild symptoms than those who had not,” says Daniel Linseman, senior author of the research and associate executive director of the Knoebel Institute.

“We found that individuals who experienced the loss of taste or smell also tested positive for COVID antibodies, making this symptom an important aspect of reporting in the clinic.”

The testing will be performed at Vibrant America Clinical Labs based in San Carlos, CA. The University of Denver’s Knoebel Institute for Healthy Aging collaborated with clinicians from Resilience Code, a Denver functional medicine and human performance clinic founded by Denver Neurosurgeon, Chad J Prusmack MD FAANS IFMCP, and Vibrant Sciences LLC.