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Overcast Mount Sinai South Nassau offers antibody screening at 10 sites across South Shore
New and existing patients of Mount Sinai South Nassau in Oceanside may now access antibody screening blood tests at a number of the hospital’s ambulatory locations across Long Island.
The antibody tests are authorized by the Food and Drug Administration, and have a high degree of reliability. The presence of Covid-19 antibodies in one's system is an indication that a person was probably exposed to the virus, even if he or she did not have any symptoms, and that he or she may have some degree of immunity to the virus, although this is not proven yet.
Testing is available at the following locations:
--Mount Sinai Doctors Baldwin Primary Care, 2280 Grand Ave., Suite 208, Baldwin, (516) 623-4800
--Mount Sinai Doctors, Bellmore Primary Care, 2750 Merrick Road, Bellmore, (516) 409-2000
--Mount Sinai Doctors Freeport Primary Care, 155 W. Merrick Road, Suite 101, Freeport, (516) 379-3139
--Mount Sinai Doctors, 1436 Broadway, Hewlett, (516) 360-2962
--Mount Sinai Doctors Hewlett Cardiovascular, 1420 Broadway, 2nd Floor, Hewlett, (516) 374-8682
--Mount Sinai Doctors Long Beach Cardiology & Primary Care, 325 W. Park Ave., Long Beach, (516) 432-2004
--Mount Sinai Doctors Lynbrook Primary Care, 185 Merrick Road, Suite 1B, Lynbrook, (516) 887-0077
--Mount Sinai Doctors Oceanside Primary Care, 2965 Long Beach Road, Oceanside, (516) 593-8953
--Mount Sinai Doctors Oceanside Family Medicine, 196 Merrick Road, Oceanside, (516) 255-8400
--South Nassau Center for Primary Care Long Beach, 761 Franklin Blvd., Long Beach, (516) 544-2351
“The results and information gained from antibody testing will help the medical community determine and understand the spread of the virus, establish public health recommendations and reduce the risk for future surges of the virus in our communities,” said MSSN Department of Medicine Chairman Dr. Aaron E. Glatt, who is also the chief of infectious diseases at the hospital.
Antibody testing is also used to determine if a patient’s blood is suitable for donating convalescent plasma (a blood product from someone who has recovered from Covid-19). If a person has developed antibodies to the virus, he or she may be eligible to help others by donating antibody-rich plasma at the New York Blood Center, which has established a plasma bank that hospitals can access immediately to treat patients with serious or life-threatening Covid-19 infections.
Known as convalescent plasma therapy, coronavirus patients are transfused with recovered patients’ antibodies that have proven successful at fighting the virus. MSSN and other hospitals within the Mount Sinai Health System have been treating patients with this promising therapy. A single donation of antibodies can be used to treat one to two patients struggling with severe cases of Covid-19.
“Plasma transfusions have long been used to fight epidemics,” Glatt said. “In addition, whether or not an individual agrees to be a donor, testing will help identify that you have developed antibodies to Covid-19, which can be of great personal health benefit.”
Medical researchers also believe that antibody testing could be used to return people with immunity safely to the workforce, regardless of industry or profession. It could also help reduce the rate of coronavirus infections at nursing homes by staffing them with immune workers.
Antibody testing and convalescent plasma therapy is an essential component of the Mount Sinai Health System’s race to defeat the coronavirus outbreak. It has established a multidisciplinary team that is testing several hundred patients a day to determine what they call an “end-to-end” diagnostics solution for Covid-19. The approach includes diagnosis, treatment selection, and protocols for monitoring the course of the disease.
Courtesy Mount Sinai South Nassau; compiled by Mike Smollins.
