EARTH CITY, Mo. — A St. Louis area blood center announced it will collect plasma donations from patients who have recovered from COVID-19 to help newly diagnosed patients fight it.
Mississippi Valley Regional Blood Center in Earth City said each donor must be referred to the blood center by their physician, who must provide certain information to qualify the donor.
According to a press release, the treatment, known as convalescent plasma therapy, requires plasma provided by donors who have recently recovered from a COVID-19 infection. These donors will have antibodies to help fight COVID-19. The treatment has been used in recent years to treat patients with Ebola, SARS, and H1N1 influenza.
“Our teams have moved quickly to develop processes and protocol to provide convalescent plasma for the hospitals we serve,” said Mike Parejko, Chief Executive Officer. “While this treatment is not a cure, it might help alleviate the symptoms patients experience with COVID-19. If we can help take a patient off a ventilator or get them out of the hospital, it will help patients return to good health and free up precious resources when they are needed most.”
To provide convalescent plasma, donors must be fully recovered from their COVID-19 infection and must meet all standard eligibility criteria for blood donation. Plasma will only be collected from donors with laboratory-confirmed tests showing they had a COVID-19 infection and must be at least 28 days from the last date they experienced symptoms.
Each donor must meet standard criteria for donor eligibility. Donors will be scheduled for a plasma donation at an MVRBC Donor Center. Potential donors are asked to contact their physician to make a referral as a COVID-19 convalescent plasma donor. Physicians wishing to refer patients for donation should use the referral form available at www.bloodcenter.org. For additional information, potential donors or physicians may send inquiries to patientservices@mvrbc.org.
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