Convalescent plasma therapy is showing some early signs of success as a COVID-19 treatment.
Dr. Teresa Lynch is interim department chair of internal medicine at the University of Illinois College of Medicine Peoria and a hospitalist at OSF Saint Francis Medical Center. She said outcomes from convalescent plasma therapy are "promising."
"We've seen patients get extubated or get taken off the breathing machines. And then one of the more promising things is we've seen clearance of the virus from the blood," she said. "Before we could detect the virus in the blood. The virus has become undetectable. And also seeing antibodies to the virus in the blood of patients who were treated."
The therapy uses donated plasma from recovered COVID-19 patients and transfuses it into patients currently suffering from the virus, in hopes antibodies in the plasma help the patient fight off the illness.
About a dozen Peoria-area patients have undergone convalescent plasma therapy.
Lynch is asking recovered COVID-19 patients to consider plasma donation. To qualify for donation, a positive COVID-19 patient must be asymptomatic for 28 days. One donor's plasma can treat up to three patients.
Mississippi Valley Regional Blood Center and the American Red Cross are working in conjunction with the Mayo Clinic to collect donor plasma from recovered COVID-19 patients for the treatment.
We’re living in unprecedented times when information changes by the minute. WCBU will continue to be here for you, keeping you up-to-date with the live, local and trusted news you need. Help ensure WCBU can continue with its in-depth and comprehensive COVID-19 coverage as the situation evolves by making a contribution.
