Infected covid-19 infections produce antibodies to the virus, which persist in the body even after recovery. Administration of blood plasma from a person who has contracted the disease to another infected person is one of the treatments.
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Convalescent plasma, ie blood plasma of cured patients, is increasingly used in Czech hospitals to treat patients with covid-19.
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Donation rules
Similar criteria apply to the donation of this plasma as to conventional donation. The cured donor must meet general conditions, such as general health, age between 18 and 65 years (for first-time donors only up to the age of 60) or weight over 50 kilograms.
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It is not possible to donate plasma if you have received a blood transfusion or given birth in the past.
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| Plasma donation after covidem-19 infection |
| The optimal course of the disease in potential donors included symptoms of respiratory infection (ie fever, cough, etc.). In this case, the infected person is thought to have developed antibodies. |
| Plasma or blood can be donated no earlier than 14 days after recovery. It is advisable to donate within three months after healing, before the amount of antibodies in the body begins to decrease significantly. |
| The donor must be in good health and meet the conditions of the donation. |
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More detailed information on common criteria for blood donation is provided by the Society for Transfusion Medicine of the Czech Medical Society of Jan Evangelista Purkyně here.
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People who are healed but have not yet regained their sense of smell or taste. Convalescent plasma can be donated repeatedly, but there must usually be a gap of at least two weeks between donations. Shorter ones may be allowed for the first four subscriptions.
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Blood collection takes about 15 minutes from the donor, whereas plasma collection takes over an hour.
There are several ways to collect plasma. Doctors either take the blood directly or separate the blood plasma from the red blood cells that the donors return during the collection. This method is more time consuming, but doctors get three times more plasma from it.
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“We have three units from the special plasma collection. These are enough for treatment for one and a half patients. We have one unit from the standard blood collection, so there must be two donors for the treatment of one patient, “said the head of the transfusion department Petr Turek from Thomayer Hospital.
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Dexamatezone is the most effective
Plasma is used in patients with very severe conditions where remdesivir is no longer helping, and in moderate infections in which remdesivir has not yet occurred.
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“It’s definitely a safe therapy, we see that the patient is improving, but it’s not such a revolutionary treatment. In plasma, the effect is small, in remdesivir it is moderately significant and in dexamatezone it is clearly the most significant, “points out Michal Holub, head of the Department of Infectious Diseases of the 1st Faculty of Medicine, Charles University and the Central Military Hospital.
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