Coronavirus / Israel: plasma, the passive vaccine successfully used on a 29-year-old patient

The hospital says the young man is in serious but stable condition
29-year-old Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) patient infected with coronavirus is treated at Samson Assuta Ashdod University Hospital went from a serious state to a serious but stable state, after receiving several doses of plasma over the weekend from a donor who has recovered from the coronavirus , said a spokesperson for the hospital to Jerusalem Post .

Friday, “with the help of Minister of Health Ya’acov Litzman and his assistant, an appropriate donor, a resident of Jerusalem, has been found, “said MDA director general Eli Bin.

MDA took him by ambulance to his blood center before Shabbat. A special team was waiting for him and transferred plasma units to laboratories to perform all required tests and prepare them for transfusion.

Then, with the approval of the Ministry of Health, the blood units were delivered to Assuta and transfused to the patient.

The man is one of the youngest severe patients in the country. He suffers from several underlying health problems and was hospitalized in Assuta for about a week and a half.

The first patient to recover from coronavirus donated plasma on April 1, according to the MDA’s deputy director general of blood services, Professor Eilat Shinar. Since then, some six other patients have donated and, in the past two days, plasma units have been supplied to three different hospitals.

A 60-year-old man treated at the Yitzhak Shamir medical center in Beer Ya’acov also recently received plasma and also improved slightly

Shinar explained that plasma is used to create a “passive vaccine”, assuming that those who have recovered from COVID-19 have developed special proteins or antivirus antibodies in their plasma, which could help sick patients cope with the disease. .

Passive immunization involves receiving these preformed antibodies. An active vaccine, on the other hand, is when you are injected with a dead or weakened version of a virus that makes your immune system think you have had the disease, and your immune system creates antibodies to protect you.

MDA is currently in the first phase of creating this vaccine, by which the plasma is frozen and then delivered to hospitals across the country. so that patients are treated by transfusionsaid Shinar.

In the second phase, the goal is to collect enough plasma to prepare the antibody concentrate (immunoglobulin) with which patients will be treated later.

MDA has been collecting plasma for over 30 years; thousands of volunteers donate every day. Plasma containing antibodies was used to treat patients with SARS during the 2002 epidemic. In addition, Israel has offered similar treatment to patients with West Nile fever.

Before being able to donate plasma, a patient must wait 14 days from the time he was confirmed negative for coronavirus via two separate swab tests.

Last month, said Shinar, the FDA approved a similar protocol in the United States.

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