UArizona, State of Arizona Expand Eligibility for COVID-19 Antibody Testing in Concert with $7.7M Study to Better Understand Immunity

July 22, 2020

A free statewide COVID-19 antibody testing program expands to 15 categories of essential workers at high risk of exposure, in concert with a $7.7 million UArizona study to better understand immunity.

TUCSON, Ariz. — Following a significant increase in the number of Arizonans who have been exposed to COVID-19, the University of Arizona and state of Arizona are expanding their free COVID-19 antibody testing program for 250,000 people across the state to include 15 new categories of essential workers considered at high risk for exposure. The antibody test, developed by researchers at UArizona Health Sciences, determines who has been exposed to and developed an immune response against COVID-19.

SARS-COV-2, the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19. (Image: Courtesy of the CDC)

SARS-COV-2, the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19. (Image: Courtesy of the CDC)

The following essential workers, in addition to workers in eight other employment categories, are now eligible for antibody testing under the program:

  • Educators
  • Child care workers
  • Agriculture, grocery and food service workers
  • Hospitality employees
  • Solid waste collection workers
  • Transportation services workers
  • Members of the National Guard.

Health care workers and first responders continue to have access to the testing. More information and registration for the test is available at covid19antibodytesting.arizona.edu.

“Our antibody test is exceedingly accurate in determining who has developed an immune response against the COVID-19 virus. Combined with other tools such as diagnostic testing and contact tracing, it can help us better understand exposure, spread and levels of protection in our communities,” said Deepta Bhattacharya, PhD, one of the developers’ of the antibody test and an associate professor in the Department of Immunobiology at the UArizona College of Medicine – Tucson.

Significant Immunity Study Launching

In conjunction with the expanded testing eligibility, the university also is launching a $7.7 million yearlong study funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to identify patterns of COVID-19 immunity over time in previously and newly infected individuals. Jeff Burgess, MD, MPH, associate dean for research and a professor at the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, is serving as principal investigator for the study, named the Arizona Healthcare, Emergency Response, and Other Essential Workers Surveillance, or AZ HEROES, Study.

Deepta Battacharya, PhD

Deepta Battacharya, PhD

“The research questions we intend to answer will help us understand how long immunity to COVID-19 persists, and if secondary exposures to the virus are handled differently by the body than the initial exposure,” Dr. Burgess said.

The research team will seek to enroll 4,000 health care workers, first responders and other frontline workers as participants in the study, who will participate in weekly COVID-19 surveillance and quarterly antibody testing. For questions about the AZ HEROES Study, call the study team at 520-848-4026, or email AZHeroes@arizona.edu.

Karen Lutrick, PhD, of the College of Medicine – Tucson; Kate Ellingson, PhD, and Joe Gerald, MD, PhD, of the College of Public Health; and Bonnie LaFleur, PhD, a research professor of biostatistics at the UArizona BIO5 Institute, are co-investigators for the study. Janko Nikolich-Zugich, MD, PhD, one of the developers of the antibody test, head of the Department of Immunobiology and co-director of the Center on Aging, will oversee the biological analyses for the study.

Differences in COVID-19 Testing

Jeff Burgess, MD, MPH

Jeff Burgess, MD, MPH

There are three types of tests that are being deployed during the pandemic – two that use nasal swabs to diagnose whether an individual is currently infected with the COVID-19 virus, and one that uses a blood draw to determine whether an individual has developed antibodies and an immune response against the virus. An antibody test is not used to diagnose an active infection.

The antibody test developed at UArizona Health Sciences is one of the most accurate in the country. The testing lab uses two different viral proteins, both of which must return antibody signals for a sample to be called positive. Tests have been further validated in the lab to confirm the presence of virus-neutralizing antibodies, the best available measure of immunological protection.

A version of this article appeared originally on the UANews website.

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The UArizona Health Sciences COVID-19 Resources webpage can be found here.

For the latest on the University of Arizona response to the novel coronavirus, visit the university’s COVID-19 webpage.

For UANews coverage of COVID-19, visit https://uanews.arizona.edu/news/covid19.

WRITERS/EDITORS PLEASE NOTE:

About Valleywise Health 
Located in Phoenix, Arizona, Valleywise Health (formerly Maricopa Integrated Health System) has a proud tradition of being both the community safety net health care system, with a mission and commitment to serving the underserved and Arizona’s only public teaching hospital. Valleywise Health consists of Valleywise Health Medical Center, Maryvale hospital, the only Level I Trauma Center in Maricopa County verified by the American College of Surgeons to care for both adults and children, Arizona’s only nationally verified Burn Center serving the entire Southwestern United States, the McDowell Healthcare Center, the largest provider of HIV primary care in Arizona, the Refugee Women’s Health Clinic, the Arizona Children’s Center, three behavioral health centers, and 11 neighborhood health centers. To learn more, please visit ValleywiseHealth.org.

About the University of Arizona Health Sciences
The University of Arizona Health Sciences is the statewide leader in biomedical research and health professions training. UArizona Health Sciences includes the Colleges of Medicine (Tucson and Phoenix), Nursing, Pharmacy, and the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, with main campus locations in Tucson and the Phoenix Biomedical Campus in downtown Phoenix. From these vantage points, Health Sciences reaches across the state of Arizona, the greater Southwest and around the world to provide next-generation education, research and outreach. A major economic engine, Health Sciences employs nearly 5,000 people, has approximately 4,000 students and 900 faculty members, and garners $200 million in research grants and contracts annually. For more information: uahs.arizona.edu (Follow us: Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | LinkedIn | Instagram).

About the University of Arizona
The University of Arizona, a land-grant university with two independently accredited medical schools, is one of the nation's top public universities, according to U.S. News & World Report. Established in 1885, the university is widely recognized as a student-centric university and has been designated as a Hispanic Serving Institution by the U.S. Department of Education. The university ranked in the top 20 in 2018 in research expenditures among all public universities, according to the National Science Foundation, and is a leading Research 1 institution with $687 million in annual research expenditures. The university advances the frontiers of interdisciplinary scholarship and entrepreneurial partnerships as a member of the Association of American Universities, the 65 leading public and private research universities in the U.S. It benefits the state with an estimated economic impact of $4.1 billion annually. For more information: arizona.edu (Follow us: Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | LinkedIn | Instagram).