As the world is desperate for treatment: vaccines and the slow of disease burden, could plasma transfer be one of the answers? The idea is relatively simple and based on the concept of passive immunity. People who have recovered from COVID-19 infection have likely done so because their immune systems developed strong immune responses to the virus that causes the illness.
As a key part of their response, they make antibodies, including both general microbial killers and specialized cells that target just the proteins found on SARS-CoV-2. In theory, these antibodies could be taken from a recovered COVID-19 patient and infused into someone recently infected with the virus. Researchers are theorizing that if you passively infuse someone who is actively sick, the antibodies may temporarily help a sick person fight infection more effectively and get well quicker.
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