Scientists say blood from coronavirus patients who have recovered could be used for treating people who are severely ill with the infection.
Plasma from those who have had the disease is rich in antibodies that their immune system developed to combat coronavirus.
Chinese doctors started using this method to treat patients and now it has already been approved by the US Food and Drug Administrations.
Hospitals in New York are preparing to be the first to try the method. It is not clear whether other countries will start trialing the treatment.
Experts say they hope this treatment will give them enough time to develop new treatments for coronavirus and test experimental anti-viral medicines like remdesivir and chloroquine.
When a person gets infected, the body produces antibodies or specially designed proteins to combat the infection, said Dr. Arturo Casadevall of Johns Hopkins University.
After the patient recovers, the antibodies float in the blood (plasma) for months or years.
One of the studies would test if giving antibody-rich plasma to coronavirus patients would boost their bodies’ attempts to combat the infection. Researchers would measure if the method reduced the need for breathing machines or gave patients a higher chance of living.
But experts warn that in very rare cases, regular plasma transfusions can result in a lung-damaging side effect.
Unlike a vaccine, which trains the immune system to make their own antibodies, the plasma infusion method would give patients a temporary shot of a survivor’s antibodies and require numerous doses.
Dr. Liise-anne Pirofski of New York’s Montefiore Health System said further studies could give plasma infusions to those at high risk from repeated exposures to coronavirus, such as first responders and hospital workers.
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