Blood Plasma From Recovered Patients Can Treat COVID-19

By Nsunjo Erica

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that it is issuing an emergency use authorization for using convalescent plasma to treat CIVID-19 patients.

The blood plasms to be used is a substance to be extracted from the blood of those who have recovered from coronavirus to treat patients suffering from COVID-19.

The FDA and other scientists said that the blood of patients who have contracted and recovered from coronavirus is apt to contain antibodies that could fight off the coronavirus.

Scientists indicate that via blood plasma, these coronavirus antibodies can be injected into patients whose bodies have yet to create their own antibodies, or whose immune systems are struggling.

According to doctors, the use of blood plasma takes advantage of the fundamental way that the human body’s immune system works by continuing to create antibodies to destroy viral intruders even after those viruses have been cleared.

Chief scientist for the FDA, Denise Hinton, however, said COVID-19 convalescent plasma should not be considered a new standard of care for the treatment of patients with COVID-19. He stated that additional data will be forthcoming from other analyses and ongoing, well-controlled clinical trials in the coming months.

President Trump authorized the FDA’s decision to issue an emergency use authorization for convalescent plasma. “This is a powerful therapy that transfuses very, very strong antibodies from the blood of recovered patients to help treat patients battling a current infection. It’s had an incredible rate of success.” Though because the procedure has not yet been implemented on a wide scale, it is impossible to know whether it will have an “incredible rate of success,” Trump said.

Previously, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a new saliva test for COVID-19 that’s simple, cheap, and available now. Researchers estimate that the test will cost about $10.

According to the FDA, the test is known as “SalivaDirect” and doesn’t require any proprietary equipment or technology; and instructions for the test will be made immediately available to laboratories.