From the LA Times article “Coronavirus patients can benefit from blood of the recovered, new study shows”:
For 10 patients severely ill with the new coronavirus, a single dose of antibodies drawn from the blood of people who had recovered from COVID-19 appeared to save lives, shorten the duration of symptoms, improve oxygen levels and speed up viral clearance, newly published research reports.
The preliminary findings emerged from a “pilot study” published Monday in the journal PNAS, the Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences. Conducted at three hospitals in China, it underscored the promise of harvesting immune antibodies from recovered people (a therapy also known as convalescent plasma) and administering them to people battling a severe case of COVID-19.
This only intensifies the need for a widely distributed and accurate antibody test as soon as possible. We need to identify folks who have had the disease so that they can donate blood and have the plasma harvested and made available to those on death’s door from this vile virus.
More studies are needed but this therapy has a long history:
The use of convalescent plasma is not a new concept. By giving patients plasma or serum from patients who have developed antibodies to a particular virus or bacteria, an infected patient is given a massive boost to their adaptive immune system, which confers passive immunity. It has been used since the 1800s.
The RedCross is looking for donors from recovered COVID-19 patients.
The Red Cross is seeking people who are fully recovered from COVID-19 and may be able to donate plasma to help current patients with serious or immediately life-threatening COVID-19 infections, or those judged by a healthcare provider to be at high risk of progression to severe or life-threatening disease.
People who have fully recovered from COVID-19 have antibodies in their plasma that can attack the virus. This convalescent plasma is being evaluated as treatment for patients seriously ill with COVID-19. Historically, convalescent plasma has been used as a potentially lifesaving treatment when new diseases or infections develop quickly, and no treatments or vaccines were available yet. The Red Cross has been asked by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to help identify prospective donors and manage the distribution of these products to hospitals treating patients in need. If you’re fully recovered from a verified coronavirus (COVID-19) diagnosis, please review the information below and fill out the Potential Donor form. A Red Cross representative will follow up with prospective candidates to confirm eligibility.
Let’s keep our fingers crossed that this can help folks who are getting hit very hard by this disease until we get a vaccine.