No drug or anti-viral treatment for COVID-19 has yet been approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration.
However, there is one potential treatment that researchers and physicians find promising: convalescent plasma donation. Some call the plasma “liquid gold.”
Across the country, medical trials are underway testing the procedure, which involves transfusing the blood from a COVID-19 survivor into a current COVID-19 patient.
The hope is that antibodies from a COVID-19 survivor could help the current patient ward off the disease.
Domenico Piccininni, a COVID-19 survivor, was one of the first patients to donate his plasma for an investigatory study at Northside Hospital in Atlanta. He told “Closer Look” host Rose Scott the choice to donate was easy.
“I mean you just have to think about, it could save somebody’s life and so that’s why I keep saying it’s just the right thing to do,” he said. “… I feel great about it. I’m not one of the heroes on the front lines battling it out every day, but anything I can do to help.”
Although the treatment is not yet proven, Dr. Kent Holland, medical director of the Blood and Marrow Transplant Program at Northside Hospital, explained researchers and doctors are hopeful they will see results.
This type of plasma has been used in previous outbreaks to treat influenza, polio, measles, SARS and Ebola.
“If we can give people convalescent plasma, we believe — it’s not yet been proven in controlled trials — but we believe that will abrogate the severity and life-threatening complications associated with [COVID-19],” Holland said.
So far, Northside Hospital has drawn blood from around 100 COVID-19 survivors. Holland said he expects to have results from the study within the next few months.
To listen to the full conversation, click on the audio player above.
