A Cure for COVID-19?

China asks COVID survivors to donate plasma

WUHAN, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- An expert from Wuhan has called upon cured patients who were infected with the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) to donate plasma at hospitals as antibodies have been identified in the plasma of some patients.
Initial results have indicated the effectiveness of plasma transfusion in curing patients diagnosed with COVID-19 infection, said Zhang Dingyu, head of Wuhan Jinyintan Hospital,

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Benjamin Cowling, a professor of epidemiology at the University of Hong Kong, said the use of antibodies to treat the coronavirus is “a really good idea,” noting that it’s been used before in influenza pandemics. But he cautioned that it needed to be proven in a controlled trial.

“It’s basically transferring immunity from a patient who has recovered to a patient still fighting the infection, and then helping them to recover,” he said.

The plasma is being used as a potential "treatment and also as prophylaxis (PrEP and PEP) against COVID-19. (The half-life of some polyclonal antibodies against other pathogens is approximately 3 weeks)."

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