Can plasma from COVID-19 survivors treat others?

This question has come up a lot lately. Is hyperimmune plasma therapy effective?

Hyperimmune serum is blood plasma containing high amounts of an antibody. It has been hypothesised that hyperimmune serum may be an effective therapy for persons infected with the Ebola virus.

Another study identified 32 studies of SARS coronavirus infection and severe influenza and concluded the following:

Available evidence suggests that convalescent plasma is likely to reduce mortality during SARIs of viral etiology, with larger treatment effects if it commenced early after symptom onset. However, this is based on predominately low-quality, uncontrolled studies. Our review supports the use of  convalescent plasma in critically ill MERS-CoV–infected patients as part of a well-designed clinical trial or other formal evaluation.

Here is a current project in Santiago, Chile:

Hoy hicimos nuestra primera terapia con plasma hiperinmune de pacientes convalecientes intentando derrotar a la #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/eRSLYRYiDJ

— SEBASTIAN UGARTE (@sebasugarte) April 18, 2020

He also states in a reply that he only uses this therapy on critically ill patients only.

From STUDY IQ:

‘Convalescent’ Plasma Therapy

Convalescent = recovering from an illness or medical treatment.

• When people get sick with a virus or bacteria, they recover from the illness because their body produces antibodies specifically to fight that ‘ANTIGEN’

• Vaccines also spur the body into producing these protective antibodies.

• But there is no COVID-19 vaccine yet, so plasma from recovered patients remains doctors’ best source of antibodies for now.

What is the process?

1. To get the plasma, people who have fully recovered from the infection must first donate blood. Donors must be free of symptoms for at least 14 days.

2. The plasma is then separated from the blood in a process called plasmapheresis and screened for toxins or infections, like hepatitis or HIV. Next, the plasma is tested to make sure it has enough antibodies to effectively treat or prevent COVID-19.

3. After that, it can be infused into the recipient through a procedure that’s similar to a blood transfusion and is known to be safe.

Is this ‘THE CURE’ for COVID19?

1. Convalescent plasma is a stopgap measure until a better treatment or vaccine is available.

2. The therapy will be useful for people who have been hospitalized with COVID-19 but are not yet in critical condition.

3. If the treatment can prevent those people from ending up in the intensive care unit, it will free up valuable resources like beds and ventilators for patients with more severe illness.

Challenges-

One of the challenges of plasma therapy will be administering it in the right window of time to provide the maximum boost to a person’s immune system.

The sooner it can be given (ideally, within a few days after exposure or the onset of symptoms), the better a person will likely fare.

After that, patients might be too far along in the course of their disease to benefit. The timing could be tricky because some people aren’t admitted to the hospital until many days after their illness has begun.