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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: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 29 2020, @01:42PM (6 children)
You can get cooties from other people's blood.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 29 2020, @01:46PM
But it's for our national corona emergency. Common sense and your rights don't matter anymore. If you resist, we must continue to shut the country down.
(Score: 2, Touché) by khallow on Sunday March 29 2020, @02:50PM
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday March 29 2020, @04:51PM (1 child)
No biggie. Don't they teach children in school to spray for cooties?
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 29 2020, @08:05PM
dot dot cootie shot!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 30 2020, @06:02AM (1 child)
Circle circle, dot dot, now you've got your cooties shot
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday March 30 2020, @03:37PM
Circle circle, jerk jerk, now you've got a mess in addition to the original problem.
Would a Dyson sphere [soylentnews.org] actually work?
(Score: 0, Flamebait) by J_Darnley on Sunday March 29 2020, @01:58PM
AIDS AIDS AIDS
My father. AIDS
My sister. AIDS
My uncle and my cousin and her best friend. AIDS AIDS AIDS
The gays and the straights and the whites and the spades.
Everyone has AIDS.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 29 2020, @02:50PM (18 children)
(Score: 2, Insightful) by khallow on Sunday March 29 2020, @02:51PM (3 children)
Sure, we could. But how many years would that take?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 29 2020, @03:09PM (2 children)
(Score: 2, Insightful) by khallow on Sunday March 29 2020, @03:57PM
Interesting weasel language. However, the "could" indicates you "didn't" so conceive.
Run that by your ethics committee on human experimentation first.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 30 2020, @02:32PM
There's not really any point to that, the risks associated with plasma infusions are well established. The only real question here is whether or not it works and they're not going to stop providing other treatment while this is going on. The results will likely have to be inductive, which means that we won't know for sure that this is what helped, but they'll likely compare it against what the success rates were for the other treatments and as long as that's somewhat below, they'll call it good enough for now.
Medical research during a pandemic on people that are already infected is a massive problem ethically as you can't do any of the things you'd normally want to do in terms of research design due to the ethics of withholding treatment and the inherent pressure on the patients to agree to anything that might help.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by HiThere on Sunday March 29 2020, @03:26PM
I'm sure someone will eventually. This looks like something that could work, but not be a really good answer, so even after the successful good trial, it will be replaced by something else really quickly. When my younger sister got polio, the treated the rest of us with blood plasm. (Well, they called it gamma-globulin, but it was a blood plasma extraction.) That approach got replaced as soon as they got a better choice.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 5, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 29 2020, @03:34PM (2 children)
Once again, the stereotypical SN comment: "Gee, if only experts realized the random thought I had in my basement!" Yeah, experts had that thought already. Lots of times.
You know, if you just type in "COVID clinical trials" in a search engine and skim a couple articles, you could easily find out what you want.
There are literally dozens of clinical trials going on, trying out at least 12 potential different treatments [sciencemag.org] for COVID-19. They have various parameters, levels of rigor, planned numbers of subjects, and timelines for completion. (Generally speaking, you need more time to do a more rigorous trial, but in these circumstances, many trials are fast-tracked to get preliminary results and guidance more quickly.) There have even been preliminary results published for five patients using convalescent plasma therapy already. Yes, this is so small as to be anecdotal, but this type of therapy has a strong basis for working with many diseases in the past [jamanetwork.com], so the FDA has said okay [fda.gov] to EMERGENCY administration of this therapy outside of formal studies, even as other clinical trials using it are going on.
You think medical researchers are just sitting around twiddling their thumbs at the moment?
(Score: 0, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 29 2020, @05:34PM (1 child)
> You think medical researchers are just sitting around twiddling their thumbs at the moment?
No no we're all too busy hacking p-scores and guzzling down that sweet, sweet grant money. Ahhhhh suckers!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 30 2020, @02:51PM
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday March 29 2020, @04:56PM (2 children)
You've heard that Rome wasn't built in a day? Fact is, you can't build much more than a doghouse in a day. If you're that impatient, why don't you get your degree tonight, so you can join in the efforts tomorrow?
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 5, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 29 2020, @05:38PM (1 child)
I ordered my degree from Liberty U two weeks ago - where's my job saving lives? I have this idea about chloroquinamine. Another idea is to make a ring of roses and a pocket full of posies, a tissue tissue we all pick ourselves up by our bootstraps.
(Score: 2) by captain normal on Monday March 30 2020, @02:31AM
Too bad Liberty U is shut down after Trump buddy Jerry Falwell, jr reopened he school after break and students started coming down with Covid 19.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/29/us/politics/coronavirus-liberty-university-falwell.html [nytimes.com]
"It is easier to fool someone than it is to convince them that they have been fooled" Mark Twain
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Sunday March 29 2020, @06:51PM
Not by April 15, not even with all the BS paperwork and committee approvals fast tracked and instantly rubber stamped.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 4, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 29 2020, @08:30PM (5 children)
There will never [biospace.com], ever [nih.gov], ever [clinicaltrials.gov] be any clinical trials [clinicaltrialsarena.com] for "treatment" of "COVID-19" [hopkinsguides.com].
Why? Because it doesn't exist! It's all a conspiracy by the DNC, Hillary Clinton, Colin Kaepernick, Nancy Pelosi and Lt. Colonel Alexander Vindeman to put decent, hard-working Americans in concentration camps to make way for the tens of thousands of healthy, horny Muslim boys and men to rape and impregnate innocent American women.
Let me repeat: There is no COVID-19. It's all a hoax and a plot to weaken our great country by those who hate us, like these guys [lwv.org]. They are running scared because our wonderful leader has made us so much greater already. They seek to weaken and destroy us because they [nih.gov] hate America and want to destroy our freedom and economy.
All the "news" reports about over 100,000 cases in the US (and more around the world) are all lies spread by the DNC to damage the chosen one and invalidate an election they still can't get past.
Why do you think that the police and National Guard have murdered hundreds in cold blood when they've tried to enter hospitals all across the country? Those who wish to expose the truth are being murdered!
Take back our country from these America hating [uschamber.com] terrorists [breitbart.com]!
COVID-19 DOES NOT EXIST! IT IS A LIE PROMULGATED BY AL-QAEDA, ISIS AND THEIR MUSLIM SPERM LOVING ALLIES IN THE DNC AND THE DEEP STATE! TAKE BACK OUR COUNTRY! SHOOT A NATIONAL GUARDSMAN BEFORE THEY SHOOT YOU OR IMPRISON YOU IN A FEMA CONCENTRATION CAMP!
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 29 2020, @09:35PM (4 children)
I was going to mod you up as funny, but I realized, that since there are people actually so seriously fucked up that they believe all that--including some here on Soylent News--that there is an actual possibility (probably not, but it's a possibility) that you are being serious.
Poe's Law...
(Score: 3, Informative) by PartTimeZombie on Sunday March 29 2020, @10:47PM
I modded it funny for you.
The clue for me was the phrase "these guys" on the link the League of Women voters site.
(Score: 3, Touché) by Mykl on Sunday March 29 2020, @11:36PM
Modding stuff like this as funny is one of the best ways to make sure that people don't take this sort of thing seriously. It's also got the added benefit of ridiculing someone if they actually believe it.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 29 2020, @11:40PM
Use the links, Luke. [and your brain]
The Internet will be with you. Always.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 30 2020, @12:42AM
They made it clear it was satire by linking to announcements about clinical trials while the text denied they were taking place. I don't think too many people on SN actually believe those things. However, there are trolls who will post such things, probably because they know they'll get over the top reactions from a few users here. But the grandparent is definitely satire, not trolling.
And it's good news that, at least for today, science seems to have won out over the impulses of President Trump. Extending the social distancing guidelines through the end of April is a good move. Projecting that the economy could start to reopen around the end of May is far more consistent with observations and modeling of the disease.
By the way, there are some interesting tools to predict the spread of the coronavirus and general characteristics about how contagious diseases spread. One uses a Kalman filter to predict trends in the virus spread [github.com] and make projections for a number of areas [medium.com]. And there are models like the SIR model [youtube.com] and some very interesting simulations testing the effectiveness of various control measures [youtube.com].
(Score: 4, Interesting) by maxwell demon on Sunday March 29 2020, @03:20PM (6 children)
If the cure works, they should have plenty of survivors to draw new blood from, shouldn't they? Basically, cure one person with blood plasma, then (if that person is not also infected with something else) draw blood from them to heal several others with.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 2) by ElizabethGreene on Sunday March 29 2020, @06:17PM (4 children)
My recollection is that we tried this during the last ebola outbreak and found blood plasma not to be an effective treatment. Perhaps this time is different.
I don't have a source, so this is based on a very rusty memory of someone not working in healthcare.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 29 2020, @07:10PM (3 children)
That's because Ebola was God's revenge on Africans and you can't effectively fight God, whereas COVID is a man-made virus escaped from the Gates Foundation labs and more easily controllable.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 29 2020, @08:48PM (2 children)
There. FTFY.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 31 2020, @06:05AM (1 child)
COVID 19 tends to kill more old people though.
And more old people voted for Trump: https://www.people-press.org/2018/08/09/an-examination-of-the-2016-electorate-based-on-validated-voters/ [people-press.org]
And Brexit: https://lordashcroftpolls.com/2019/03/a-reminder-of-how-britain-voted-in-the-eu-referendum-and-why/ [lordashcroftpolls.com]
Maybe God is taking them to heaven early to reward them?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 31 2020, @07:10AM
And given their past voting record, I'm guessing they won't get a vote in heaven.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Sunday March 29 2020, @07:05PM
I wonder if the people receiving the transfusion cure might have their own immunoresponses stunted, like people who take steroids and have their endogenous production systems shut down.
Could go either way, on this and a hundred other variables, which is why they have to test it.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(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.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 29 2020, @07:30PM (5 children)
SN has turned into a dumpster fire of ignorant trolls, thankfully a few decent folks stick around and usually correct the stupidity.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 29 2020, @07:45PM
All the kids don't have school so they have plenty of time to waste getting internet points for the lulz
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 29 2020, @07:59PM
Takes one to know one, asswipe.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 29 2020, @09:49PM
Stupid SJW twat, let me correct you... SN has always been a dumpster fire of ignorant trolls.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 29 2020, @11:26PM (1 child)
Yeah, they're giving 'Anonymous Coward' a bad name. At this rate I might have to register or something.
(Score: 3, Funny) by captain normal on Monday March 30 2020, @02:44AM
Maybe try "Coward, Anonymous", or like James Bond, "Coward, Anonymous Coward".
"It is easier to fool someone than it is to convince them that they have been fooled" Mark Twain