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Posted: May 11, 2020 9:58 AMUpdated: May 12, 2020 7:03 AM

JPMC Begins Therapy Treatment for COVID-19 Patients

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Garrett Giles

Last week, Ascension St. John Jane Phillips in Bartlesville began treating COVID-19 patients with convalescent plasma therapy.

Convalescent plasma therapy involves an injection of plasma from a person who has recovered from the novel coronavirus into someone that has a severe case of COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus. Dr. Derek Matheson, one hospitalist leading the effort at Ascension St. John Jane Phillips said this plasma injection is rich in antibodies, which are proteins found in blood that fight specific bacteria and viruses.

The historical theory of convalescent plasma therapy dates back a hundred years ago. Dr. Matheson said they have seen previous benefits in treating infections such as Hepatitis B, polio, measles, influenza, rabies, the Ebola virus, and a few small studies with other coronaviruses (i.e. SARS in 2003 and the Middle Eastern Repertory Syndrome in 2010).

The current theory for convalescent plasma is to provide short to medium-term immunity against COVID-19. The vast majority of patients that recover from COVID-19 develop circulating, neutralizing antibodies to various proteins of the virus following the infection by about two to three weeks.

When a patient recovers, doctors and nurses are doing what they can to obtain antibodies from their plasma to give to currently struggling COVID-19 patients. Dr. Matheson said they are wanting to do this to help neutralize pathogens in the blood stream.

Ascension St. John Jane Phillips started using convalescent plasma therapy on Monday, May 4th. Dr. Matheson said a study out of China shows that seven to 12 days after the infusion is when they see the results of the therapy. He said five people have gone through the therapy at the Jane Phillips Medical Center, and they are still waiting to see how successful convalescent therapy can be.

The biggest issue is having enough supply of the COVID-19 convalescent plasma to do it more wide spread. Dr. Matheson said their current supply from the American Red Cross is low, so they use the plasma for those that are extremely sick. He said if they get a decent supply of plasma, they would like to use it at an earlier stage to try and help prevent the progression to the most complicated and most dire stage of the virus.

Convalescent plasma therapy is part of a national clinical trial with the Mayo Clinic and American Red Cross to determine whether these injections are an effective treatment for COVID-19. The Oklahoma Blood Institute and American Red Cross are in need of blood and plasma donations.

If you are able to donate, please consider doing so. Visit the Oklahoma Blood Institute website, obi.org or the American Red Cross website, redcrossblood.org to find a blood drive near you.

Speaking with the Regional Director with the American Red Cross, Jan Hale, Dr. Matheson said they discussed the criteria of who could donate. At first, the criteria was very strict, but now, everyone is encouraged to donate.

Knowing the fact that there have been so many asymptomatic cases of COVID-19, Dr. Matheson said they are encouraging everyone to donate. He said this would give them a large supply of plasma. He said they can now test for the antibodies needed in everybody’s blood; they can determine if you were positive or symptomatic in the past.

In our local hospital, the number of COVID-19 patients has varied. Dr. Matheson said at any one time, six to 20 patients have had the coronavirus in the Jane Phillips Medical Center. Request approvals depend on the supply of the COVID-19 convalescent plasma.

Dr. Matheson said the Jane Phillips Medical Center started requesting the plasma in mid-April. He said they did not receive that plasma for two and a half to three weeks, but that process is quickening its pace as the supply of plasma is on the rise. Now plasma can be delivered within five to 10 days.

There are seven coronaviruses that are known that affect humans. Dr. Matheson said four of them cause the common cold, two of them are SARS and MERS, and now we have COVID-19, the seventh coronavirus. He said they have seen some benefits with convalescent plasma in 2003 with SARS and 2010 with MERS, which is what they are basing their current theory off of today.

Full Interview with Dr. Matheson on the therapy. 


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