Doctors want to treat coronavirus with blood from recovered patients

Doctors searching for treatments to fight the coronavirus say the answer may be in the blood of recovered patients, according to a report.
Researchers at Johns Hopkins University want to use a method known as “convalescent serum,” which involves harvesting virus-fighting antibodies from the blood of patients who have already beaten the illness, NBC News reported.
Dr. Arturo Casadevall, chair of the molecular microbiology and immunology department, said the treatment has not been implemented for decades in the US, though blood from survivors was used to treat the Spanish flu, polio and measles.
“I knew the history of what was done in the early 20th century with epidemics,” Casadevall told NBC. “They didn’t have vaccines then, they didn’t have any drugs then — just like the situation we face now.”
In a new paper, Casadevall and a colleague, Dr. Liise-anne Pirofski, make the case that using blood serum or plasma from recovered patients might be the best option for treatment until a better cure is developed.
The report, which was published Friday in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, noted the practice was used in China during the 2009 outbreak of H1N1 influenza and the Ebola epidemic in 2013.
“Although every viral disease and epidemic is different, these experiences provide important historical precedents that are both reassuring and useful as humanity now confronts the COVID-19 epidemic,” the researchers wrote.
The virus — which first emerged in December — has now spread to more than 152,000 people in 144 countries.
https://nypost.com/2020/03/15/doctors-want-to-treat-coronavirus-with-blood-from-recovered-patients/