COVID-19, the coronavirus pandemic sweeping the globe, is uniquely challenging because the virus is novel. A novel virus is simply a virus that has never been seen before. Because coronavirus is a such a virus, we were not prepared with a cure or vaccine. As a result, doctors and healthcare workers have only been able to offer supportive care.
Doctors have had some success with administering extremely high doses of vitamin C intravenously, as well as employing the antibiotic azithromycin and the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine, but so far, there is no cocktail of drugs proven to cure COVID-19.
Now, the United States Food and Drug Administration has approved a new line of defense against the coronavirus. On March 24th, the FDA moved to allow doctors to use plasma donated by coronavirus survivors in an effort to treat critically ill patients. [1]
An old treatment for a new pandemic
This type of treatment is not new. Treating ill patients with the plasma of surviving patients is known as convalescent plasma. Convalescent plasma has been used to treat and prevent various bacterial and viral infections since the 1880s and was used as a therapy for the Spanish influence pandemic of 1918. [2]
Experts believe that administering the plasma from individuals who have overcome COVID-19 could be the best bet for saving the lives of those critically ill from the virus until better therapies emerge. It could be months before an effective treatment or cure for the virus is found.
“The approach definitely has merit, and what’s remarkable about it is it’s not a new idea; it’s been with us for a good hundred years or longer,” Dr. Jeffrey Henderson, an associate professor of medicine and molecular microbiology at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, told NBC News.
“I think we don’t know until we have experience and case reports with this particular disease whether it will be effective, but just based on its track record with a number of other viruses, I think it has a very good chance of working.”
Dr. Henderson is among those working with a nationwide network of researchers and doctors led by a team at John Hopkins University attempting to establish a protocol for administering convalescent plasma in response to coronavirus.
Now that it’s been approved by the FDA, doctors may request permission to treat COVID-19 patients who are in critical condition. The FDA has not given a blanket approval, however. The therapy will be approved on a case by case basis and reserved only for patients who are extremely ill. Doctors think that if this therapy is effective, it is best administered before symptoms get severe, which presents a challenge to doctors and patients.
However, convalescent plasma therapy may be helpful in preventing hospital workers from getting sick from interacting with coronavirus patients.
Read: Italian coronavirus patient, 79, recovers after taking Ebola drug
An unproven treatment
The FDA has been quick to caution that this is not a proven treatment for COVID-19.
“Although promising, convalescent plasma has not been shown to be effective in every disease studied,” the FDA said in their announcement. “It is therefore important to determine through clinical trials, before routinely administering convalescent plasma to patients with COVID-19, that it is safe and effective to do so.”
According to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, health officials in that state will begin looking for volunteers who have covered from COVID-19 to donate plasma.
“It’s only a trial,” Cuomo said on Monday. “It’s a trial for people who are in serious condition, but the New York state Department of Health has been working on this with some of New York’s best health care agencies, and we think it shows promise, and we’re going to be starting that this week.”
Keep Reading: Japanese Flu Drug ‘Clearly Effective’ in Treating Coronavirus, Says China
- https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/fda-will-allow-doctors-treat-critically-ill-coronavirus-patients-blood-n1167831
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4781783/
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