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Inside Health

Have I dodged Covid? And skin colour and health

Inside Health

BBC

Health & Fitness, Science

4.4575 Ratings

🗓️ 11 October 2022

⏱️ 29 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

I think I might’ve dodged Covid. Like many others, I’m fully vaccinated but have never tested positive despite having had plenty of opportunities to catch it. I used public transport to get to work during the lockdowns and was exposed to the virus when my son came down with it. So what’s going on? Armed with my covid antibody test results, I ask immunologist Prof Mala Maini to clear up the confusion. And a new scale to determine skin colour which could improve how certain health problems are diagnosed and treated.

PRESENTER: James Gallagher PRODUCER: Beth Eastwood

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hello, I'm Greg Jenna and good news, Your Dead to Me is back for a new series. Here we go. Yes, we'll explore Emperor Nero's notorious reign with Professor Marybeard and Patton Oswald. I would not want my daughter having the remote control, not alone an empire. We'll dissect the decadent life of Philippe Duke-Dor-Leon with Tom Allen. I've often tried to pretend I'm an aristocrat and being very quickly knocked down.

0:23.0

And there'll be so much more with comedians like Olga Koch, Mike Mosniak and Rihalina.

0:26.9

I'm excited.

0:27.6

You're dead to me, the comedy podcast that takes history seriously.

0:30.9

Listen first on BBC Sounds.

0:34.4

BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts.

0:38.1

You're listening to the Inside Health podcast with me, James Gallagher.

0:43.7

Hello there.

0:44.7

So I've been soaking my fingers in nice, warm water,

0:48.1

because it's going to help me do a blood test

0:49.8

because it's getting the blood flowing right to the surface of my fingers.

0:55.3

And I've got the box here. I hoard this over the internet. Right. So I've got a vial

1:00.9

that I need to fill up with blood. So I press this against my finger. I'm not normally a

1:08.9

bleeder, but I'm definitely bleeding now. So I'm just going to squeeze this into the vial.

1:14.5

Now, the reason I'm doing this to myself is I don't think that I've caught COVID during the pandemic.

1:20.6

So I want to find out whether my body has encountered the virus or not, which is why I'm doing this blood test. So I will stick this in the

1:30.3

post when I'm done and I will see you once I have the results and I've found a friendly scientist

1:35.3

to help me interpret them. Welcome to my lab, James. I'm Professor Malamani. This is UCL and it's a brand

1:42.2

new Institute of Immunity immunity and transplantation.

1:45.2

And thank you for having me in, Mala, and for this very dashing and the rustliest lab coat I have ever worn.

1:50.1

So I've tried to keep it still as I can.

1:51.7

So I ordered a test over the internet to try to figure out the burning desire that I have to know whether or not I've actually had COVID during the course of the pandemic.

...

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