In South Korea, two elderly patients have recovered from their severe lung disease after being treated with blood plasma cured coronavirus patients. Plasma therapy could become an alternative treatment for seriously ill Covid 19 patients who do not respond to antiviral drugs, said Choi Jun Yong, a doctor at Severance Hospital in Seoul.
However, extensive clinical tests are needed to prove effectiveness. One of the patients was a 71-year-old man without previous illnesses, whose condition only improved when he was treated with the plasma of a healed patient between 20 and 30 years old and steroids. He was initially treated with malaria medication for severe lung disease and connected to a breathing apparatus.
The first therapies, including malaria and HIV medication and the administration of oxygen, also failed in a 67-year-old patient. She only felt better with simultaneous treatment with blood plasma and steroids, as the scientists in Seoul said. They published their findings, verified by experts, in the „Journal of Korean Medicine“.
Experts: Plasma contains antibodies against pathogens
The Seoul findings raise hopes in the global fight against the coronavirus pandemic. According to scientists, the blood plasma of people cured by Covid-19 contains antibodies against the pathogen SARS-CoV-2. Small studies have previously shown that plasma transfusions help fight infectious diseases such as Ebola and SARS.
In France, tests began today in Parisian hospitals on 60 patients, half of whom received blood plasma from cured coronavirus patients. Such tests are also planned in Germany.
