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Blood Plasma From Survivors Will Be Given to Coronavirus Patients:
Can blood from coronavirus survivors help other people fight the illness? Doctors in New York will soon be testing the idea in hospitalized patients who are seriously ill.
Blood from people who have recovered can be a rich source of antibodies, proteins made by the immune system to attack the virus. The part of the blood that contains antibodies, so-called convalescent plasma, has been used for decades to treat infectious diseases, including Ebola and influenza.
"It's kind of difficult scientifically to know how valuable it is in any disease until you try," said Dr. David L. Reich, president and chief operating officer of the Mount Sinai Hospital, which will be using the treatment. "It's not exactly a shot in the dark, but it's not tried and true."
Dr. Reich said it would be tried as a treatment for hospitalized patients who had a moderate form of the disease and had trouble breathing, but not for those who are in advanced stages of the disease.
"The idea is to get to the right patients at the right time," he said. "But it's experimental."
Researchers at Mount Sinai were among the first in the United States to develop a test that can detect antibodies in recovering patients, an essential part of this treatment strategy.
On Tuesday, the Food and Drug Administration gave permission for the plasma to be used experimentally on an emergency basis to treat coronavirus patients, and hospitals in New York quickly began asking to participate, said Dr. Bruce Sachais, chief medical officer of the New York Blood Center, which will collect, test and distribute the plasma.
"Our main focus is, how do we implement this quickly to help the hospitals get product to their patients," Dr. Sachais said. "We have blood centers in New England, Delaware and the Midwest, so we can do the same thing in other regions. We're working with other blood centers and hospitals that may collect their own blood and want to do this. We may not be able to collect enough plasma in New York to help the entire country, so we want to share with other centers to help them."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 29 2020, @04:58PM (9 children)
Especially if you’re not working and the rent is due. Who knows, That person you’re donating to could even be your landlord and he’s not giving you a break on rent.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 29 2020, @05:41PM (8 children)
The Landlord's income is sacrosanct, didn't you know? He's busy collecting 1/2 your paycheck, doesn't have time for excuses. Two weeks a month you work for the landlord, one week a month you work for the government. Only the last week of the month do you start putting money in your own pocket.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday March 29 2020, @07:14PM (7 children)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 29 2020, @07:22PM (2 children)
No! I need to live in the most expensive area of the country so that I can constantly complain about how little money I have!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 29 2020, @07:32PM (1 child)
That is a bit superficial, don't you think?
I, on the other hand, live there because of all the used needles and human feces in the streets.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 29 2020, @09:07PM
I see you’ve made the shitty choice.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 30 2020, @12:31AM (1 child)
Strange how the payscales in those "deplorable" areas is adjusted to keep the proportion.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday March 30 2020, @01:23AM
Not so. It's about supply too. Those "deplorable" areas tend to have fewer restrictions on supply and because real estate is cheaper relative to wages, then so is everything else too.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Phoenix666 on Monday March 30 2020, @12:20PM (1 child)
Landlords always charge what the market will bear, no matter where you live or how much you make. If you live somewhere where rent is cheaper, your pay will be less commensurately.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday March 30 2020, @12:39PM
Markets bear less when there's more supply. The hot markets are often also artificially scarce markets.