• Epidemic. 100 patients will try a promising coronavirus therapy in Spain: cured plasma
  • Coronavirus: Last minute of the coronavirus

A 72-year-old patient, admitted to the Álvaro Cunqueiro Hospital in Vigo , has become this Friday the first coronavirus patient in Galicia to receive antiviral therapy with plasma from another patient who has already been cured.

As reported by Sergas, the man suffers from bilateral pneumonia due to the virus , and has several chronic diseases. In his case, health sources have pointed out, conventional treatments "have been ineffective."

Therefore, this Friday an infusion of plasma from another patient , already cured, and which has a high content of antibodies against the new coronavirus, has been performed. "Plasma therapy is used routinely for the treatment of various hematological diseases , and has been used in the treatment of other infectious diseases, such as Ebola," said the head of the Internal Medicine service, Manuel Crespo (who coordinates the Covid Team of CHUVI -Vigo University Hospital Complex-, together with the head of Pneumology, Alberto Fernández Villar).

In the case of infection with the new coronavirus, treatment consists of intravenous infusion of a single dose of between 280 and 300 milliliters of plasma , obtained from a cured patient with a high amount of antibodies, with the capacity to neutralize the virus.

Although it is an experimental therapy, without scientific evidence at the moment, specialists have shown their hope that it is effective and that new possibilities and lines of research can be opened to fight the pandemic.

Donor and recipient selection

As Sanidade sources have explained, thanks to the donation of these cured patients, plasma is currently available to treat 30 COVID patients .

The beneficiaries of the therapy will be selected "with very specific criteria": who have severe pneumonia or risk factors for poor clinical evolution, who are older, immunosuppressed, with chronic diseases or who do not respond to conventional treatments during the first 24 48 hours after admission.

The CHUVI began, in coordination with the Axencia Galega de Doazón de Órganos e Sangue (ADOS), the clinical study to carry out this therapy, which, according to the WHO, may be a potentially useful treatment modality against COVID-19.

Thus, the Hematology and Microbiology services began selecting donor candidates from patients who had overcome the disease and had high rates of antibodies generated against the virus.

The donors, in addition, had to be in good health and be asymptomatic , in addition to having waited at least 14 days since the PCR test had given them negative for coronavirus. After the selection, on April 22, plasma extraction began, using the apheresis procedure, at the ADOS location in Vigo.

Sample processing

Subsequently, Axencia was in charge of the treatment and inactivation of the plasmapheresis units obtained with methylene blue.

The units processed, cryopreserved and stored at -30 ºC, have a useful life of two years . These units are validated and labeled, according to strict quality criteria set by the Transfusion Safety Committee of the Ministry of Health, and their use will be exclusively for research in patients with confirmation of COVID-19.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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  • Galicia
  • Coronavirus
  • Covid 19

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