Blood Plasma Treatment for Coronavirus Set to Get Its First Trial Run in New York

The New York Blood Center (NYBC) is the first blood-gathering organization in the U.S. to collect plasma from COVID-19 patients to use as a possible treatment for the disease. Before antibiotics rendered the practice moot, it was common to treat infectious bacterial diseases by infusing the blood of recovered patients into those struggling with infection. That approach has also been tried against viral infections like H1N1 influenza, SARS and MERS, with inconsistent success. Some patients benefited, but other did not and doctors don’t have a clear understanding of why. But during an evolving pandemic like COVID-19, plasma-based treatments can provide a critical stop-gap while therapies and vaccines are developed. The idea is relatively simple, and based on the concept of passive immunity. People who have recovered from an COVID-19 infection have likely done so because their immune systems developed strong immune responses to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the illness. As a key part of their response, they make antibodies, including both general microbial killers and specialized cells that target just the proteins found on SARS-CoV-2. In theory, these antibodies could be taken from a recovered COVID-19 patient, and infused into someone recently infected with the virus. “The thought is that if you passively infuse someone who is actively sick, the antibodies may temporarily help a sick person fight infection more effectively, and get well a little bit quicker,&r...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 Source Type: news