COVID-19 recovered blood is being collected in the UK to help other patients: it is believed that the plasma of a sick and recovered person can help treat those who are still sick and have a hard time tolerating the infection.
According to Reuters, NHS Blood and Transplant will be involved in blood collection. The resulting blood will be used as an experimental treatment so far to find out if transfusions can accelerate the recovery of patients and improve the outcome of treatment.
The United States also collects the plasma of patients with the coronavirus COVID-19, since it contains antibodies that can be used in the treatment of other patients.
“NHS Blood and Transplant is preparing to collect COVID-19 convalescent plasma from people who have recovered from this illness,” a spokeswoman said. “We envisage that this will be initially used in trials as a possible treatment for COVID-19.”
“If fully approved, the trials will investigate whether convalescent plasma transfusions could improve a COVID-19 patient´s speed of recovery and chances of survival,” the blood service said.
“We are working closely with the government and all relevant bodies to move through the approvals process as quickly as possible,” it said.