COVID-19 survivors ‘needed’ to donate plasma

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) - We’ve always known that donating blood helps save lives, but if you’re a COVID-19 survivor, your blood could help treat a Coronavirus patient.

Mississippi Blood Services is pleading for people who have recovered from the virus to donate blood.

Its called convalescent plasma therapy and Red Cross is using it help severely ill COVID-19 patients.

The plasma in your blood may contain COVID-19 antibodies that can attack the virus, health officials say.

Right now, convalescent plasma is being evaluated as a possible treatment for Coronavirus patients, but the supply is running low because the demand continues to rise as the virus spreads. Nevertheless, Mississippi Blood Services is hopeful about the treatments success.

”I’ve never been this excited in my entire career because this can save lives,” Dr. Williams Crews said. Crews is Medical Director of Miss. Blood Services. “The other studies that we have in our lab, they might go into textbooks, and in the long run they might be in the clinic,but this immediate application is the best thing. I wish starting tomorrow we could treat patients,” he added.

Click here for details on the next blood drive.

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