MOSCOW, July 17. /TASS/. Over one tonne of plasma with antibodies has been prepared in Moscow since the beginning of April to treat patients with the coronavirus infection. Over 1,700 Moscow residents who have recovered from COVID-19 became donors, the press service of deputy mayor for social development issues Anastasia Rakova reported on Friday.
"Since April of this year in Moscow over a tonne of plasma was prepared with the antibodies to coronavirus. And this is thanks to 1,788 donors who gave blood after recovery. Additionally, 215 city residents did it again. In our in-patient facilities over 760 patients had been scheduled for transfusions, almost 500 of them have already successfully overcome the disease and were discharged from the hospitals," the deputy mayor noted.
According to her, the preliminary research results showed that after the donor plasma transfusion the risk to end up on lung ventilator in the intensive care ward decreases by 63% for patients with moderate form of the disease. And the chance of recovery for patients with severe form who receive plasma increases by 19%.
"A dose we receive from one plasma donor can help two or three patients. The method will be used until the vaccine appears which can take months, that’s why it is important to us to have a sufficient supply of plasma of convalescents. Additionally, plasma can be used to create an immunoglobulin preparation, so we have a new task which only donors can help us resolve," as chief specialist in transfusion at Moscow’s Healthcare Department Andrey Bulanov was quoted in the statement.
People aged 18 to 55 can become blood plasma donors, provided they do not have chronic illnesses and test negative for HIV, and Hepatitis B and C.
If you have recovered from the coronavirus infection and would like to donate blood plasma, please call the hotline number +7 (495) 870-45-16 daily from 9:00 to 19:00.