health

Can blood from coronavirus survivors treat the newly ill?

7 Comments
By LAURAN NEERGAARD

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 Won't the body attack the foreign antibodies as well?

not likely as its like giving blood as long as the person is of the same blood type and not infected with any diseases then transfusions should be fine, Im not sure if plazma needs the same blood type also or can be used universally

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Many people may have natural immunity anyway, and apparently there are blood tests which can determine it.

Such people could work and circulate in general.

This is an interesting possibility. Of course, few commenters on here are interested in the topic. They’d rather stay with the doomsday theme.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Giving passive immunity by plasma transfusions is a terribly inefficient way to treat the disease, and not exactly free of risks. It is interesting to see how much useful it can be to treat exceptional cases, but nobody is expecting it to be a treatment in general.

Maybe after the peak of the pandemic is already gone and there are much more convalescent cases than new infections.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

When I was in college I donated plasma for a couple of summers and made some money from that. I don't know if blood type matters for plasma donations (my blood is O-positive) but still this sounds very hopeful.

Once this coronavirus thing blows over and has run its course there will be needs from Red Cross/Red Crescent/whatever. I can't donate blood due to medication issues but I can donate plasma to help these people out, they can put me on the list!

0 ( +0 / -0 )

CORRECTION

When I was in college I donated plasma for a couple of summers and made some money from that. I don't know if blood type matters for plasma donations (my blood is O-positive) but still this sounds very hopeful.

Once this coronavirus thing blows over and has run its course there will be needs from Red Cross/Red Crescent/whatever. I can't donate blood due to medication issues but if I can donate plasma to help these people out, they can put me on the list!

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Sounds promising. Won't the body attack the foreign antibodies as well?

IIRC, no, antibodies are just like regular small molecules to the T-cells (like say food molecules) - the body doesn't care who makes the antibodies (either the body itself or someone else)

Im not sure if plazma needs the same blood type also or can be used universally

Plasma by definition is just the fluid part of the blood, devoid of cells

So no need for blood type

Many people may have natural immunity anyway

By the Theory of Natural Selection, just by random mutations, a natural immunity may pop up in some members of a population

Technically, that's how natural selection works - some mutations are more beneficial than others in a given time and situation

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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