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In Serbia and Germany, people who have recovered from the coronavirus are urged to donate blood plasma to help patients fight the virus. But how effective is this therapy?
Source: DW
Illustration / Photo: depositphoto / senercanoz
So-called passive immunization is a form of treatment in which blood plasma is taken from people who have recovered from coronaviruses to be administered to those who cannot develop antibodies on their own to fight the virus. There are already a large number of patients recovered in both Serbia and Germany, and there is great interest in both countries to donate blood plasma.
DW discussed this topic with Maria Gnjatow, Research Associate at the Institute for the Application of Nuclear Energy, and with Professor Erhard Zayfried of the Frankfurt Institute for Transfusion and Blood Immunology.
“The candidates for plasma donation are exclusively patients who have developed high levels of effective antibodies after infection, which unfortunately is not always the case,” explained Dr. Gnjatovi.
According to her, a high level of antibodies does not automatically imply their effectiveness in fighting the virus, but it is certainly better if the level of antibodies is high.
What is not yet known is whether patients with x-19 symptoms develop fewer or more antibodies than those without symptoms. According to research carried out so far by the Frankfurt Institute for Blood Transfusion, there are patients who have severe symptoms but have poorly developed antibodies. On the other hand, there were patients who had no symptoms and developed strong antibodies. It is currently being determined at this Institute whether the severity of the disease and the types of symptoms have any influence on the construction of antibodies in the body.
Professor Seyfried noted that this type of treatment was seen as an “emergency pack when there are no drugs or vaccines,” adding that nothing could replace the active immunization that would be achieved with vaccination. The truth is that this therapy cannot cure patients in a massive way.
“This therapy is only for patients who have a disease that cannot develop antibodies on its own,” says Gnjatovi.
Study the clinics necessary to determine the effectiveness of the therapy.
Although in countries such as Germany, China, America and June Korea, few patients have already confirmed that blood plasma treatment has contributed to the recovery of patients, a detailed examination clinic is needed to determine the true effectiveness of this therapy.
At the Frankfurt Institute for Blood Transfusion, the world’s first prospective cohort study was launched to examine the efficacy of blood plasma in treating critically ill patients. Of the two patients infected with coronavirus, one will receive blood plasma with antibodies against the crown and the other will only receive medications currently used to relieve symptoms.
“Blood plasma therapy can also have side effects, such as allergic reactions, and it may also be that the patient simply does not respond to therapy,” Professor Zayfried explained, noting that the study will help understand the body’s immune response, which it is key to further fighting the pandemic. coronavirus
A testing clinic in Serbia will also be organized at the Blood Transfusion Institute, where the efficacy of this therapy will be further tested.
Profession agrees: protective immunity for at least some time
However, blood plasma is not only for the treatment of patients, it is also extremely important in determining the development of immunity against the virus crown.
Currently, there is a broad body of research in the scientific community that needs to determine what percentage of people develop immunity and how long it lasts.
Dr. Gnjatovi noted that previous tests had been performed on people with SARS and MERS that belonged to the same coronavirus family as SARS-CoV-2 and that it was later established that immunity was generated from two to even five years
“Some viruses produce long-lasting immunity, but there are certain viruses that only create immunity for a limited period of time, like the flu virus.” Other viruses produce antibodies that cannot defend the body against the virus, which is the case with HIV, “said Dr. Gnjatovi.
He notes that the entire scientific community believes that SARS CoV-2 will develop immunity for at least a few months to a year, Professor Zayfried confirmed.
Both experts point out that it is essential that the immune response of people who have transmitted the virus be examined more closely, as they can return to work earlier without the risk of contracting or spreading the virus.
To test immunity, highly reliable assays that detect the presence of antibodies in blood plasma are needed.
The safest is the national production of tests.
The Institute for the Application of Nuclear Energy at Zemun has announced that it will begin production of so-called ELISA tests in more than a month, which should establish the total presence of antibodies in the blood.
“Of all the tests, our experience shows that ELISA tests are more reliable than rapid tests, which look like pregnancy tests. These tests do not have the ability to detect a high or low presence of antibodies, and ELISA tests do. And this is important for us to understand the immune response, ”explained Dr. Gnjatovi.
She emphasized that the most important reason for developing domestic tests lies in the fact that tests abroad do not guarantee reliability. “If someone has spilled another coronavirus, you can get a false positive if you have a bad test,” added the associate.
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