Jacksonville, FL — Not-for-profit blood center OneBlood, which serves Florida and others parts of the southeastern US, is helping with a potential treatment option for coronavirus.
In the coming weeks, OneBlood says it plans to begin collecting plasma from people who have recovered from coronavirus, so it can then be transfused to people who are severely ill.
Susan Forbes, Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications and Public Relations for OneBlood, says this experimental treatment has been approved by the FDA and is known as 'COVID-19 convalescent plasma.'
She says the treatment centers around antibodies.
"People who recover from the coronavirus have developed antibodies to the virus and those antibodies remain in the plasma portion of their blood. By transfusing the plasma that contains the antibodies into a person who is still fighting the virus, it can provide a boost to the patient's immune system and help them recover," explains Forbes.
She says convalescent plasma treatment has been used for more than 120 years in medicine and has been used to treat the flu, SARS, Ebola, and more.
OneBlood is currently working closely with the Florida Department of Health to identify people who have recovered from coronavirus to be potential donors.
Donors will need to meet all the usual screening criteria for blood donation, as well as pass additional FDA criteria.
