Florida hospitals need convalescent plasma for virus

As coronavirus cases surge, so does the need for convalescent plasma transfusions at hospitals treating COVID-19 patients.

Convalescent plasma is a transfusion of the donated plasma of someone who’s had COVID-19 and has developed antibodies capable of fighting off the virus.

The plasma is transfused to a patient who is currently sick with the virusCOVID. The process has potential to boost the patient’s immune system and aid recovery.

Supply of convalescent plasma has not been able to keep up with demand in Florida, which has seen a surge in new cases, said OneBlood spokeswoman, Susan Forbes.

“OneBlood is experiencing more than a 500 percent increase in hospital orders for COVID-19 convalescent plasma. We are urging people who have recovered from the coronavirus to step forward and donate their plasma, they are urgently needed,” Forbes said.

The drive in demand is a combination of increased coronavirus cases as well as doctors’ desire to use the plasma earlier in treatment before patients become critically ill.

“We’ve seen a shift of utilizing convalescent plasma in patients that are outside of the intensive care unit. We are using convalescent plasma 50 percent more now than we were before”, said Eduardo Oliveira, an AdventHealth medical director.

OneBlood experienced a similar shortage of blood in March and April when cases began surging in Florida.

Due to businesses shutting down, OneBlood saw massive cuts in their scheduled Big Red Bus donations, losing out on 3,000 events and resulting in the loss of over 47,000 units of blood donations, Forbes said.

Since then, many donors have stepped forward to donate blood and plasma, which is largely important as blood is needed on a daily basis to treat the birth of premature babies, sickle cell patients and victims of accidents.

Now, OneBlood is hoping to see the same response from those who have had the virus and haven’t had symptoms for at least 14 days.

In April, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, who was diagnosed with COVID-19 in March, was onboard a Big Red Bus in April donating his plasma.

“Hopefully what I’ve done can not only save a life, save this life of someone who is in critical condition, but can serve as an example, more important, that we have to continue this fight,” Suarez said, after his donation. “If you are infected with COVID-19, and you come out of it, which you will; hopefully you will, you still have a continued obligation to help those who are suffering from it or who are in a worse condition than you were.”

Those who have already donated plasma may do so again after 29 days.

Donors must provide documented lab tests or a letter from a hospital affirming they had COVID-19, or provide a positive result from an antibody test.

OneBlood began testing for antibodies in all blood donations at the start of June.

Those interested in donating blood or plasma may visit www.oneblood .org.