Treatment options are only for those who have the roughest of rides with covid, the one to the grave and it is no guarantee of survival or not being screwed for life with the after effects. The purpose of treatment options in the foreseeable future is to the save lives of the very sickest, or those who doctors expect to be, every one else will suffer and many will suffer mighty too. Treatment options are NOT a substitute for intelligent behavior and following expert public health advice. Even if a treatment were to help heal you, you would most likely suffer big time before it worked and maybe kill other people by spreading it yourself.
Here is the only thing of real note in the medical news update, they now have solid evidence that convalescent plasma therapy is safe to use, most thought it was, now it's somewhat confirmed. This is but one step in a cautious approach for a potentially widely deployed therapy, first do no harm and you must be sure. The next step is to prove efficacy with a careful study involving large numbers of patients and that is well underway, this will also establish standard treatment protocols that doctors use, if effecay is proven. Results are pending in a month or two and deployment is expected to be rapid and wide, volunteers may be required to help save lives. This is based on a pre print article, but it was a well conducted large scale study and I anticipate no issues with it and will make an exception, since it's only safety related.
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In this new feature in our 'Hope Behind the Headlines' series, we look at the latest promising developments in the fight against the new coronavirus.
www.medicalnewstoday.com
Convalescent plasma therapy ‘safe’
MNT recently spoke to Dr. Arturo Casadevall, chair of the Molecular Microbiology & Immunology Department at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, MD, about
convalescent plasma therapy.
This therapeutic approach dates back a century. Its premise is to use antibody-bearing blood components from people who have recovered from an infectious disease to treat others who have just developed it.
Dr. Casadevall
brought this approach to the attention of other experts in the United States in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.
People who have recovered from COVID-19, Dr. Casadevall told
MNT, do have neutralizing antibodies that could specifically fight SARS-CoV-2. Thus, transfusions with plasma (a component of blood) from COVID-19 survivors could help others fight the disease.
Dr. Casadevall said that in the U.S., almost 12,000 people have already received convalescent plasma therapy.
He and his colleagues, including immunology experts from various institutions, have conducted a study they based on the data of the first 5,000.
This study, which is available online in preprint form, suggests that convalescent plasma therapy is safe.
Going forward, the specialists investigating the merits of this form of therapy for treating COVID-19 aim to confirm whether it is as effective in fighting this disease as it is safe.
“[First,] you want to show safety. And then the question of efficacy will be coming in the next few weeks. Right now, the data [is] being analyzed. We are hopeful.”
– Dr. Arturo Casadevall
The fact that this therapy will rely on convalescent plasma from donors, something that is already available makes it a promising early defense against COVID-19.
The approach could eventually become one of many therapeutic options for people that contract the new coronavirus.
arstechnica.com
