Plasma from Covid survivors "could help save lives” says new Spanish study

A new Spanish study has shown that blood plasma from people who have recovered from Covid-19 can prevent patients who are in an early stage of the infection from becoming seriously ill with the disease.

The results of the study, led by the Puerta de Hierro Hospital in Majadahonda (Madrid) and involving 350 patients at 25 different hospitals, have just been published in the international Journal of Clinical Investigation. The primary conclusion of the investigation is that - as with other diseases like Ebola - plasma from convalescent Covid survivors can help cure other patients and reduce the need for intensive care.

"Its use could be especially beneficial in specific groups of patients in the early stages of the disease," reported the Ministry of Science in an official statement today, "since it seems to avoid the need for mechanical ventilation and reduces the risk of death in some people who were admitted to hospital with the infection in the first week from the onset of symptoms".

This "possible treatment" consists of the infected person receiving a plasma transfusion from a person who has recovered from Covid. The aim is to pass the antibodies generated by the latter to the former during the first phase of the infection, before the disease has become life-threatening.

According to the findings of the research conducted by Cristina Avendaño-Solá and Rafael Duarte, a plasma treatment reduces the need for mechanical ventilation or the risk of dying by more than 50%. After 14 days of treatment, improvements were seen, reaching statistically significant levels at 28 days.

These trials have been funded by the l COVID-19 Fund at the Carlos III Health Institute and, in contrast to other studies have, for the first time, identified exactly which patients could benefit from this treatment. It also sets limitations on these plasma donations.

The study's authors emphasised that the treatment is focused on patients in the early stages of the disease. "It is not effective or recommended for all patients", but the results indicate that it could also be useful in the case of immunocompromised patients, who have difficulties in developing their own immune response after the vaccine or after a natural infection.

Regarding the characteristics of the plasma that is administered, the study points out that as is the case with those receiving the plasma, not just any donor is valid. The plasma "must not come from an indiscriminate collection of convalescent people", but must have certain characteristics, such as an "adequate concentration of neutralising antibodies" and results also suggest that both recipient and donor should live in the same geographical area because it has been shown that plasma is more effective when both patients have been infected with the same variant of the virus.