TEMPLE, Texas —
As the number of coronavirus patients continues to grow, medical experts are uncovering different methods to help them before a vaccine is created.
If you have had coronavirus, your body may have the antibodies to help boost someone else’s immune system.
“Those antibodies and that person’s blood can be harvested, taken through donation, and given to a person who is newly infected and hasn’t made an immune response yet-- it’s passive immunity. It is immunity from someone that is made and has immunity, passing it to someone who hasn’t made immunity. Someone who hasn’t made it can be very, very sick. They need the bridge between making the immunity, so this helps them bridge that gap,” said Baylor Scott & White Temple Director Walter Linz.
You can either donate whole blood and the hospitals will take the plasma fraction, or you can donate your plasma directly through apheresis. One person can donate up to 3 units of plasma at a time.
“If one person donates three units, which they could if they’re big enough, they could help three patients out. But also they can donate every 28 days. We can have someone come in, let’s say donate three, and 28 days later donate another three. You can kind of build it up,” said Linz.
Immune response can vary over time, so medical experts will monitor it to make sure that this plasma is still effective for that specific patient.
“It isn’t a magic bullet. It doesn’t take you from being really really ill to being completely illness free, but it does help people to recover a little bit quicker and get them through the worst phase of it. It’s not for everybody. If someone had a really mild illness, there’s no point in giving it. It’s really for someone who is getting sicker and sicker and is looking like they’re going to need a lot more care, and this plasma at the right time can help them get through it a little bit quicker, before they make an autoimmune response to it,” said Linz.
To be eligible to donate, you need to have a laboratory diagnosis of COVID-19 and you have to be symptom free for at least two weeks.
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