Chinese doctors using plasma therapy on coronavirus, WHO says 'very valid' approach

 

Doctor Hangzhou Lu, co-director of Shanghai Public Clinical Center Shanghai, shows a quarantine room for coronavirus patients at finished but still unused building A2, in Shanghai, China February 17, 2020. Noel Celis/Pool via REUTERS

 

SHANGHAI/GENEVA (Reuters) - Doctors in Shanghai are using infusions of blood plasma from people who have recovered from the coronavirus to treat those still battling the infection, reporting some encouraging preliminary results, a Chinese professor said on Monday.

 

A top emergency expert at the World Health Organization (WHO) said later that using convalescent plasma was a "very valid" approach to test, but that it was important to get the timing right to maximize the boost to a patient's immunity.

 

The coronavirus epidemic is believed to have originated in a seafood market in the central city of Wuhan, capital of Hubei province, and has so far killed 1,770 people and infected more than 70,000 in mainland China.

 

China's financial hub of Shanghai on Monday had 332 infected cases, one of whom died in recent weeks. Lu Hongzhou, professor and co-director of the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Centre, said that 184 cases were still hospitalized, including 166 mild cases, while 18 were in serious and critical conditions.

 

He said the hospital had set up a special clinic to administer plasma therapy and was selecting patients who were willing to donate. The blood would be screened to check if he or she had other diseases like hepatitis B or C, he added.

 

"We are positive that this method can be very effective in our patients," he said.

 

There are no fully licensed treatments or vaccines against the new coronavirus, and the process of developing and testing drugs can take many months and even years.

 

'VERY IMPORTANT AREA'

Convalescent plasma has been proven "effective and life-saving" against other infectious diseases, including rabies and diphtheria, Dr. Mike Ryan, head of WHO's health emergencies program, told reporters in Geneva.

 

"It is a very important area to pursue," Ryan said.

 

"Because what hyperimmune globulin does is it concentrates the antibodies in a recovered patient. You are essentially giving the new victim's immune system a boost of antibodies to hopefully get them through the very difficult phase.

 

"So it must be given at the right time, because it mops up the virus in the system, and it just gives the new patient's immune system a vital push at the time it needs it. But it has to be carefully timed and it's not always successful."

 

Ryan added: "So it is a very important area of discovery, and I believe they are starting trials on that in China. But it is a very valid way to explore therapeutics, especially when we don't have vaccines and we don't have specific antivirals."

 

As well as using plasma therapies, the Chinese doctors are also trying antiviral drugs licensed for use against other infections to see if they might help.

 

Scientists are testing two antiviral drugs and preliminary results are due in weeks, while the head of a Wuhan hospital had said plasma infusions from recovered patients had shown some encouraging preliminary results.

 

(Reporting by Xihao Jiang and Brenda Goh in Shanghai and Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva; Editing by Kate Kelland and Nick Macfie)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-02-18

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Even there is still a doubt about the real numbers of infections in China , China's policy of information is still much better than Thailands .

Phuket's governor has received orders from BKK not to tell the public what is really going on with the Virus in Thailand ... scaring ...

But why?

 

Can they not use the Thailand Cure...….it worked and was published as a cure to the virus...….or am I just being a pessimist here....

Edited February 18, 20206 yr by ThailandRyan

This is actually how rabies treatment is made.

Edited February 18, 20206 yr by rwill

Not one person in the history of humanity has ever been cured of rabies (the american girl has since been proven to have contracted something else), that is a fact. It has a 100% mortality rate. If they are talking about rabies vaccination, then that is a different matter, and sloppy reporting.

10 minutes ago, UnkleGoooose said:

Not one person in the history of humanity has ever been cured of rabies (the american girl has since been proven to have contracted something else), that is a fact. It has a 100% mortality rate. If they are talking about rabies vaccination, then that is a different matter, and sloppy reporting.

 

The article quotes ‘Convalescent plasma has been proven "effective and life-saving" against other infectious diseases, including rabies and diphtheria’ it did not mention ‘Cured’ which is a different matter, sloppy response !

1 hour ago, UnkleGoooose said:

Not one person in the history of humanity has ever been cured of rabies (the american girl has since been proven to have contracted something else), that is a fact. It has a 100% mortality rate. If they are talking about rabies vaccination, then that is a different matter, and sloppy reporting.

If you mean by that once a patient is symptomatic you have a point. But if you mean that there is no cure for someone bitten by an rabid animal, that is not the case. If a victim is given an injection of rabies immunoglobulin and the vaccine before symptoms appear, there is virtually a 100% recovery rate.

1 hour ago, bristolboy said:

If you mean by that once a patient is symptomatic you have a point. But if you mean that there is no cure for someone bitten by an rabid animal, that is not the case. If a victim is given an injection of rabies immunoglobulin and the vaccine before symptoms appear, there is virtually a 100% recovery rate.

Use of blood from recovered Ebola patients was said to be effective, but I believe that they were symptomatic, and not just persons who had been in contact with patients.