New Study Suggests, Blood From Coronavirus Survivors Could Help Others Get Off Ventilators
The treatment known as convalescent plasma CP therapy was used during the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic before vaccines or antivirals were available. It relies on the fact that the blood of people who have recovered contains powerful antibodies. Doctors in the past also transferred the bloodborne antibodies of patients who had recovered from polio measles mumps and flu to those who were still in the grips of those infections. The same method is being...Read More
A new study suggests that a method of treatment used during the outbreak of Spanish Flu in 1918 could also work on the novel coronavirus cases.
The treatment, known as convalescent plasma (CP) therapy, was used during the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic before vaccines or antivirals were available. It relies on the fact that the blood of people who have recovered contains powerful antibodies.
Reuters
Apart from the Spanish Flu, doctors in the past also transferred the bloodborne antibodies of patients who had recovered from polio, measles, mumps and flu to those who were in still in the grips of those infections.
Now the same method is being applied for people suffering from COVID-19 disease. According to a Telegraph report, a coronavirus patient was able to come off ventilation just two days after receiving the blood plasma of people who have recovered from the virus.
A Guardian report states that two teams of medics working at separate hospitals in China gave antibody-rich plasma to 15 severely ill patients and recorded striking improvements in many of them. The preliminary study emerged from a 'pilot study' published in the journal PNAS - Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences.
Doctors in Wuhan gave 'convalescent plasma' to 10 severely ill patients and found that virus levels in their bodies dropped rapidly. The report states that in a 49-year-old woman with no underlying illnesses, COVID-19 infection quickly progressed to shortness of breath and hospital admission. By day seven, after the onset of her symptoms, her chest X-ray had shown the hallmark opacity of ground glass and she had build-ups of fluids or proteins in her lungs.
Source/Abcnews
On day 10, she got an infusion of convalescent plasma. By day 12, she had cleared the virus from her system and her chest X-ray was clearing markedly, reports the LA Times.
According to the LA Times, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, on March 24 ,approved the use of such therapy as an experimental treatment in clinical trials and for critical patients without other options. More recently, in Miami Valley, US, a coronavirus survivor donated plasma at the Community Blood Center.
According to a local report, Rabbi Mangel learned about plasma donations from a member of the synagogue who is a physician. Once Menachem tested negative for the virus, he decided to do what he could to help.
As of now, there is still no treatment for COVID-19 and vaccines are unlikely to be available before the end of the year at the earliest. Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. - a Japanese drugmaker - is currently developing a new drug for coronavirus, that is derived from the blood plasma.
