Science

Can plasma from recovered COVID-19 patients treat the sick?

As of today at hospitals in New York and Houston at least 11 patients with severe symptoms of the COVID-19 were the first to receive promising experimental treatment. This alternative treatment was not elaborated in a laboratory of any sort it came directly from the blood of recovered patients of the COVID-19. The treatment consists of convalescent plasma taken from the blood of a patient that won the fight of the COVID-19. Due to the rise in cases in the U.S researchers and scientists are desperate for a vaccine and this treatment offers an alternative solution while it is been concocted. This alternative treatment has been taken to test trials by rushing researchers wanting to know how effective it is against the virus (SARS-CoV-2). If these trails have a positive outcome the FDA even might approve for much wider use of it which a possible short-term solution for this pandemic while the vaccine is created which most likely will take more than a year to materialize. Even though this treatment brings hope its to early to call victory against the virus. This is merely a temporary solution since convalescent plasma a passive antibody therapy can provide antibodies immediately, but proteins will last only for a short amount of time.

Regarding this treatment, the clinical trial plans for it is to test it in 3 different groups. One that randomly designed to find out whether plasma can be used as prevention. Another one that test whether plasma can keep people with mild symptoms from getting worse. The last test was to determine whether plasma can stop the disease or just improve symptoms. These trials can out very unclear. The people that received the treatment didn’t seem to be doing much better than those that didn’t and although some patients recovered it can not be said for sure it was because of the treatment they receive. Many more trials are starting to be conducted in other countries with plasma but in the mean, all we can do is keep trying to find out whether this alternative treatment actually works. 

 

Camila Pedroza

My name is Camila Pedroza. I am a senior who loves her senior class. I am from Peru. My favorite food is pesto. A word that would describe me would be lowkey.

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