[conspire] COVID-19 / SARS-CoV-2 & antibody-positive plasma (convalescent plasma/serum)

[Michael Paoli]

> From: "Deirdre Saoirse Moen" <deirdre at deirdre.net>
> Subject: Re: [conspire] Known unknowns, unknown unknowns (was: Correction)
> Date: Mon, 30 Mar 2020 13:29:12 -0700

> On Mon, Mar 30, 2020, at 12:55 PM, Rick Moen wrote:
>> Seems to me, what would finally change this is provisioning of ample
>> testing kits nationwide (plus lab capacity to evaluate them, for kits
>> requiring that), along with revisions to hospital / county /
>> city / state / other policies too-severely restricting their
>> availability.
>
> What saddens me about this is having antibody-positive plasma in the  
> pipelines right now would be hella useful.

Yup, a (mostly) older technology, more heavily used in the past, and
pretty dang effective.  If I recall correctly from my earlier reading,
in at least the US, it mostly dropped out of favor around the
1950s/1960s or so, as most of the more dreaded diseases had vaccines
by then, and convalescent plasma/serum became much less used.
But it has been used quite effectively (more so in) the past.
It's also highly useful when there is no vaccine, the disease is
particularly damaging/fatal, and there aren't (other) effective
treatments.  E.g., as I seem to recall, it was used a fair amount
during the 1918 "Spanish" flu, and generally pretty effective when/where
used as treatment, and many other times/circumstances, against many
infectious diseases.

Oh, and blood banks and the like.

Yes, some of them are interested in (at least probable)
convalescent plasma/serum - but they have quite special different
procedures for that.  See, e.g.:
https://www.redcrossblood.org/donate-blood/dlp/plasma-donations-from-recovered-covid-19-patients.html
(They also have programs making such available to researchers and such.)

Also, regular blood bank needs continue, and they may be down quite a bit,
mostly due to mobile drives generally not happening.
So, if you're healthy and able to donate and meet criteria,
including also newer COVID-19 specific related criteria,
certainly donate or consider doing so (or recruiting some folks to
do so or ...) ;-).
Oh, and yes, "essential" trips and such - per the countys' orders and
guidelines, donating blood (and blood products) counts as essential
and is not only permitted, but (if you look at their FAQs and such)
encouraged.  (Yes, I donated again this past Saturday ... also
convenient "excuse" to get out and get some (not too strenuous)
exercise and (relatively) fresh (mask filtered) air - nice long walk
out 'n back).