UK to trial use of COVID-19 survivors' blood plasma for treatment

[snoop1130]

UK to trial use of COVID-19 survivors' blood plasma for treatment

 

Ambulances are seen outside the NHS Nightingale Hospital at the Excel Centre, as the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues, London, Britain, April 17, 2020. REUTERS/John Sibley

 

LONDON (Reuters) - The United Kingdom is preparing to collect the blood from COVID-19 survivors to investigate if convalescent plasma transfusions could improve an infected patient’s speed of recovery and chances of survival.

 

“NHS Blood and Transplant is preparing to collect COVID-19 convalescent plasma from people who have recovered from this illness,” a spokeswoman said. “We envisage that this will be initially used in trials as a possible treatment for COVID-19.”

 

“If fully approved, the trials will investigate whether convalescent plasma transfusions could improve a COVID-19 patient’s speed of recovery and chances of survival,” the blood service said.

 

“We are working closely with the government and all relevant bodies to move through the approvals process as quickly as possible.”

 

People who have recovered from COVID-19 can register with the NHS if they are interested in donating plasma but they should not just turn up at blood donation centres.

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-04-20

 

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[stevenl]

Plasma with antibodies is being tried in other countries as well. I believe in it, for what it's worth.

[metisdead]

An off topic post has been removed. 

[Tug]

Hope it’s a viable treatment I’d be delighted 

[wombat]

I'm no expert but thats the most logical thing i have read

[TheDark]

15 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

“NHS Blood and Transplant is preparing to collect COVID-19 convalescent plasma from people who have recovered from this illness,” a spokeswoman said. “We envisage that this will be initially used in trials as a possible treatment for COVID-19.”

 

“If fully approved, the trials will investigate whether convalescent plasma transfusions could improve a COVID-19 patient’s speed of recovery and chances of survival,” the blood service said.

I wonder how many plasma donations are required to treat or help to treat coronavirus patients?

 

I if understand correctly, foreign plasma give the patients "Antibiotics style (for bacterias)" boost to fight the virus, but receivers immune system is not able to copy the immune response from the plasma. Plasma transfusion simply gives more time for the body to learn to cope with the virus. 

 

Perhaps someone more wiser could teach us a bit how this works? @Sheryl ????

 

 

[stevenl]

17 minutes ago, TheDark said:

I wonder how many plasma donations are required to treat or help to treat coronavirus patients?

 

I if understand correctly, foreign plasma give the patients "Antibiotics style (for bacterias)" boost to fight the virus, but receivers immune system is not able to copy the immune response from the plasma. Plasma transfusion simply gives more time for the body to learn to cope with the virus. 

 

Perhaps someone more wiser could teach us a bit how this works? @Sheryl ????

 

 

It gives antibodies, so the soldiers, to fight the virus. The body will have to multiply the number of soldiers in order to be able to defeat the virus. 

 

The question is whether the body will be able to multiply the number of soldiers fast enough and n sufficient numbers.

[Sheryl]

9 hours ago, stevenl said:

It gives antibodies, so the soldiers, to fight the virus. The body will have to multiply the number of soldiers in order to be able to defeat the virus. 

 

The question is whether the body will be able to multiply the number of soldiers fast enough and n sufficient numbers.

As above.

 

This is being done already in many places, I know they are doing it on New York.

 

It is a more complex process than it may sound.  And it will take time to detetmine if it helps and best protocol if so (when in the illness to give it and how much how often)

 

[Sheryl]

4 hours ago, rhyddid said:

This is the way not the search of a fancy vaccine, good for nothing.

 

This is far inferior to a vaccine and impractical on a mass scale. It also is done only on people already sick it does not prevent infection wheteas a vaccine does.

 

There is no way to really regulate the amount of antibodies infused and there are risks involved in infusing foreign plasma...the recipient doesn't get only COVID antibodies, they get every other antibody as well as, unfortunately any antigens that the donor has. Obviously they test for HIV and hepatitis first but there are many other antigens that can slip by and cause adverse reactions, some serious. 

 

 It is also a far more complex thing to do than it may sound.

 

A safe effective vaccine is certainly the best solution. The problem is that this takes time to develop and indeed is not always possible.

 

 

[3NUMBAS]

may not work on all the various mutations .so it needs more time

[Forethat]

On 4/21/2020 at 4:29 AM, TheDark said:

I wonder how many plasma donations are required to treat or help to treat coronavirus patients?

 

I if understand correctly, foreign plasma give the patients "Antibiotics style (for bacterias)" boost to fight the virus, but receivers immune system is not able to copy the immune response from the plasma. Plasma transfusion simply gives more time for the body to learn to cope with the virus. 

 

Perhaps someone more wiser could teach us a bit how this works? @Sheryl ????

 

 

I haven't seen one single paper yet where the effects of convalescent plasma COVID-19 treatments have been documented, but from a functional perspective, the theory is that the antibodies in the plasma will reduce or even stop the virus proliferation that will eventually lead to viraemia (the viruses in your blood system). There are numerous theories of additional effects (if you find any documentation, please share), one of which is that the antibodies helps removing the previously infected cells.

Edited April 22, 2020 by Forethat

[winslowsjardine]

On 4/21/2020 at 8:19 PM, Sheryl said:

 

This is far inferior to a vaccine and impractical on a mass scale. It also is done only on people already sick it does not prevent infection wheteas a vaccine does.

 

There is no way to really regulate the amount of antibodies infused and there are risks involved in infusing foreign plasma...the recipient doesn't get only COVID antibodies, they get every other antibody as well as, unfortunately any antigens that the donor has. Obviously they test for HIV and hepatitis first but there are many other antigens that can slip by and cause adverse reactions, some serious. 

 

 It is also a far more complex thing to do than it may sound.

 

A safe effective vaccine is certainly the best solution. The problem is that this takes time to develop and indeed is not always possible.

 

 

A more promising avenue being pursued is isolating which antibodies are the most effective against covid and then producing them in large quantities. This would be a bridge until an effective vaccine is created.

https://qz.com/1835197/pharma-companies-race-to-roll-out-antibody-based-covid-19-drugs/