Chinese Scientists Seeking Potential COVID-19 Treatment Find ‘Effective’ Antibodies
By Reuters. A team of Chinese scientists has isolated several antibodies that it says are “extremely effective” at blocking the ability of the new coronavirus to enter cells, which eventually could be helpful in treating or preventing COVID-19.
There is currently no proven effective treatment for the disease, which originated in China and is spreading across the world in a pandemic that has infected more than 850,000 and killed 42,000.
Zhang Linqi at Tsinghua University in Beijing said a drug made with antibodies like the ones his team have found could be used more effectively than the current approaches, including what he called “borderline” treatment such as plasma.
Plasma contains antibodies but is restricted by blood type.
In early January, Zhang’s team and a group at the 3rd People’s Hospital in Shenzhen began analysing antibodies from blood taken from recovered COVID-19 patients, isolating 206 monoclonal antibodies which showed what he described as a “strong” ability to bind with the virus’ proteins. (Read more from “Chinese Scientists Seeking Potential COVID-19 Treatment Find ‘Effective’ Antibodies” HERE)
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Top NY Blood Center Doctor Says Plasma Coronavirus Treatment Looking ‘Promising’
By Fox News. r. Beth Shaz, chief medical and scientific officer at the New York Blood Center, joined “The Story” Wednesday night to discuss “promising” efforts to treat coronavirus using the blood plasma of recovered patients.
“Right now we have a handful [of donors],” Shaz told host Martha MacCallum. “You have to be at least 14 days after [having] symptoms. With the first cases in the New York area [confirmed] on March 1, we are just beginning to get there.”
Prior to bringing Shaz on the show, MacCallum spotlighted a New York Post report about Long Island mother Diana Berrent, who became one of the first people in New York to donate her blood plasma for treatment efforts.
“Take my blood. Take my plasma,” Berrent said in the first-person story. “Swab my nasal passage over and over again. If it can potentially save a single life it would be nothing less than a miracle. (Read more from “Top NY Blood Center Doctor Says Plasma Coronavirus Treatment Looking ‘Promising'” HERE)
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