In an experimental treatment, blood plasma from people who have recovered will be given to hospitalised patients in New York, according to a report in The New York Times.
Blood from people who have fought with the disease could potentially be a rich source of antibodies and proteins made by the immune system. The report also mentions previous outbreaks when the part of blood that contains antibodies has been used, such as during Ebola and influenza.
Dr David L. Reich, president and chief operating officer at the Mount Sinai Hospital, where the treatment will be tried, said that it would be used on patients who had a ‘moderate form of the disease and had trouble breathing’, but not for those who are in the advanced stage.
This follows after the US Food and Drug Administration permitted the use of plasma to be used experimentally on an ‘emergency basis’ to treat coronavirus patients.
The team at Mount Sinai was one of the first ones in the country to develop a test to detect antibodies in recovering patients.
Dr. Bruce Sachais, chief medical officer of the New York Blood Center, which will collect, test and distribute the plasma, is quoted in The New York Times as saying, “Our main focus is, how do we implement this quickly to help the hospitals get product to their patients. We have blood centers in New England, Delaware and the Midwest, so we can do the same thing in other regions. We’re working with other blood centers and hospitals that may collect their own blood and want to do this. We may not be able to collect enough plasma in New York to help the entire country, so we want to share with other centers to help them.”
The volunteers will have to meet specific criteria in order to donate. “The donors will include people who tested positive for the virus when they were ill, recovered, have had no symptoms for 14 days, now test negative — and have high levels, also called titers, of antibodies that fight the virus”, the report states.
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