ST. PETERSBURG, April 9. /TASS/. Medics in St. Petersburg are going to examine the blood of patients who have recovered from the novel coronavirus disease to see if their biomaterial can subsequently be used for the treatment of grave patients diagnosed with the same disease. Volunteers will begin to be invited to donate blood next week, the chief of the inter-departmental working group for resistance to the spread of the coronavirus in St. Petersburg, director of the V.A. Almazov National Medical Research Center, Yevgeny Shlyakhto, said on Thursday.
Earlier, the Moscow authorities said that the first transfusions of blood plasma from donors who earlier underwent treatment for the coronavirus infection and recovered, have been carried out at the N.V. Sklifosovsky First Aid Research Institute and Moscow’s city hospital No. 52.
"The world experience available at this point indicates that this technique is in demand. Our Chinese counterparts started with plasma exchange. Then they proceeded with drawing plasma from recovered patients. It is very important to know if antibodies are present in the plasma. We are launching a research project. Plasma will be taken from those recovered patients who have voluntarily given their consent. We are beginning to take blood from donors at two or three facilities in the city next week," Shlyakhto told an online news conference held by TASS.
He explained that as soon as the results of tests for antibodies against the novel virus are available, medics will have a clearer idea of how to use this biomaterial for treatment to the maximum effect. In particular, recovered patients’ blood may be transfused to grave patients.
"This technique has turned out very effective on patients with the respiratory distress syndrome — a breathing disorder which is lethal in 20%-30% of cases. For such people this is one of the chances to survive," he added.
According to the latest statistics, 373 people in St. Petersburg have contracted COVID-19 to date; 53 have recovered. Four with confirmed COVID-19 diagnoses have died.
In late December 2019, Chinese officials notified the World Health Organization (WHO) about the outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, in central China. Since then, cases of the novel coronavirus — named COVID-19 by the WHO — have been reported in every corner of the globe, including Russia.
On March 11, 2020, the WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. According to the latest statistics, over 1,500,000 people have been infected worldwide and nearly 90,000 deaths have been reported.
To date, a total of 10,131 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 698 patients having recovered from the virus. Moscow accounts for the majority of cases (6,698). Russia’s latest data indicates 76 fatalities nationwide. Earlier, the Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public updated on the coronavirus situation.