# Philadelphia news asking for plasma donations from covid-19 survivors. **URL:** \ **Category:** The Quarantine Zone\ **Tags:** covid-quarantine\ **Created:** [March 30, 2020, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philadelphia-news-asking-for-plasma-donations-from-covid-19-survivors/850665 "2020-03-30T14:46:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2020, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philadelphia-news-asking-for-plasma-donations-from-covid-19-survivors/850665/1 "2020-03-30T14:46:17Z")
This is being reported on local news stations. If someone is 14 days post detection and healthy their antibodies may be helpful to other patients. This is experimental. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2020, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philadelphia-news-asking-for-plasma-donations-from-covid-19-survivors/850665/2 "2020-03-30T17:36:33Z")
If you google “plasma treatment for viral infection” you’ll get hits from February and later. This one [https://www.statnews.com/2020/03/05/how-blood-plasma-from-recovered-patients-could-help-treat-coronavirus/](https://www.statnews.com/2020/03/05/how-blood-plasma-from-recovered-patients-could-help-treat-coronavirus/) mentions that the technique is not a new one. There are safety concerns of course - as in, it could transmit other viruses (doesn’t mention HIV or Hep-C but those were the ones that jumped to my mind). IVIG is supposedly safer, per that article. It’s definitely promising, and I hope it gets pursued. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2020, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philadelphia-news-asking-for-plasma-donations-from-covid-19-survivors/850665/3 "2020-03-30T18:48:12Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > If you google “plasma treatment for viral infection” you’ll get hits from February and later. > > This one [Treating coronavirus: How blood plasma from recovered patients may help](https://www.statnews.com/2020/03/05/how-blood-plasma-from-recovered-patients-could-help-treat-coronavirus/) mentions that the technique is not a new one. > > There are safety concerns of course - as in, it could transmit other viruses (doesn’t mention HIV or Hep-C but those were the ones that jumped to my mind). IVIG is supposedly safer, per that article. > > It’s definitely promising, and I hope it gets pursued. I wouldn’t think that the safety issues would be greater than with any other transfusions. ---
**Author:** ![Ashtura](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ashtura/32/2963_2.png) [@Ashtura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtura)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2020, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philadelphia-news-asking-for-plasma-donations-from-covid-19-survivors/850665/4 "2020-03-30T18:49:11Z")
How many treatments can be done with one donation? ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2020, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philadelphia-news-asking-for-plasma-donations-from-covid-19-survivors/850665/5 "2020-03-30T18:52:53Z")
Which medical authority or agency is requesting the donations? I’m assuming it’s not the local TV station itself. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2020, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philadelphia-news-asking-for-plasma-donations-from-covid-19-survivors/850665/6 "2020-03-30T18:54:32Z")
> [@Ashtura](#): > > How many treatments can be done with one donation? I’m wondering if they could filter out the covid-19 specific antibodies and clone them to produce large numbers of them. We have FDA approved monoclonal antibody treatments for other conditions so it seems like it might be feasible. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2020, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philadelphia-news-asking-for-plasma-donations-from-covid-19-survivors/850665/7 "2020-03-30T18:56:15Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > Which medical authority or agency is requesting the donations? I’m assuming it’s not the local TV station itself. I worded that very poorly. I assume that it’s one or more hospitals. Philly has some of the world’s best teaching hospitals. ---
**Author:** ![USCDiver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uscdiver/32/354_2.png) [@USCDiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/USCDiver)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2020, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philadelphia-news-asking-for-plasma-donations-from-covid-19-survivors/850665/8 "2020-03-30T19:36:28Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > [snip] Philly has some of the world’s best teaching hospitals. And also Hahnemann ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2020, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philadelphia-news-asking-for-plasma-donations-from-covid-19-survivors/850665/9 "2020-03-31T07:16:07Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > I wouldn’t think that the safety issues would be greater than with any other transfusions. AIDS, HepB, BSE… The risks of blood-born diseases are not always immediately obvious. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2020, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philadelphia-news-asking-for-plasma-donations-from-covid-19-survivors/850665/10 "2020-03-31T13:12:35Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > AIDS, HepB, BSE… The risks of blood-born diseases are not always immediately obvious. Of course there are risks, but we do transfusions all the time because there are times when the benefits outweigh the risks. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2020, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philadelphia-news-asking-for-plasma-donations-from-covid-19-survivors/850665/11 "2020-03-31T22:02:10Z")
> [@USCDiver](#): > > And also Hahnemann Didn’t Hahnemann close a few months ago? Even if this blood or products can’t be used for transfusion, they can definitely be used for research. ---
**Author:** ![USCDiver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uscdiver/32/354_2.png) [@USCDiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/USCDiver)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2020, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philadelphia-news-asking-for-plasma-donations-from-covid-19-survivors/850665/12 "2020-03-31T22:37:46Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > Didn’t Hahnemann close a few months ago? Yes, it was a joke juxtaposing “world’s best teaching hospitals” with that shitshow of a hospital that shut down. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2020, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/philadelphia-news-asking-for-plasma-donations-from-covid-19-survivors/850665/13 "2020-04-01T04:48:53Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > Of course there are risks, but we do transfusions all the time because there are times when the benefits outweigh the risks. Yes, there are protocols to avoid AIDS and hepatitus and encephalopathies, which is why most of the people affected were affected before the protocols were put in place. And the protocols weren’t put into place until the conditions were understood. Right now, COVID-19 is not well understood, and injecting someone with blood products from someone who has had a recent COVID-19 infection is not in the same class of activities as normal blood transfusion.