A study on the effectiveness of serotherapy, which consists of using the plasma of patients cured of Covid-19 to provide antibodies to the sick, is underway. Initial trials are promising and if the results of this study are positive, treatments based on this technique could be considered very quickly.
- Serotherapy consists of injecting the plasma of cured patients to transfer their antibodies to the sick.
- The results of a study on this treatment in the management of Covid-19 are expected in early May
What if, whatever the evolution of the epidemic, the coming month of May brought immense hope in the face of Covid-19? We can hope so without naivete since it is at the very beginning of next month that the results of a study on the effectiveness of serotherapy in the treatment of patients who are victims of the coronavirus must be known.
And these results are awaited with all the more impatience since the first trials of this therapy carried out on the first groups of 5 and 10 patients have resulted in clinical signs of improvement in their state of health after one week. about. What is this remedy that seems to have to work in a disease that we do not yet know how to treat, apart from the use of chloroquine, which is very controversial?
Passive immunity transfer
Serotherapy consists of collecting the plasma of cured patients – who are believed to have developed antibodies to the virus – to inject it into the sick, thus carrying out a transfer of passive immunity. Like a kind of treatment vaccine inoculated directly into the blood.
“This therapy was tested on two groups of patients in whom clinical signs of improvement were observed after a few days, patients hospitalized in serious condition but who did not yet require resuscitation”, explained Dr. Karine Lacombe, infectiologist, head of the infectious diseases department at St Antoine hospital in Paris, on April 9 in the daily podcast of Why Doctor moderated by Dr. Jean-François Lemoine.
It is in fact a question of artificially reproducing, using the antibodies produced by cured patients, the only tool which currently leads to an improvement in the condition and to the cure of patients suffering from Covid-19, the effect of the ‘immunity. To guarantee the best efficiency, serotherapy requires having enough plasma from cured patients – which should not pose a problem with Covid-19 given the number of people infected – and ensuring that the antibody titer in each pocket is large enough.
A technique used in other viral infections
This technique is well known and has already been used in the management of other viral infections such as chicungunya. Possible side effects are on the one hand an allergic reaction, as in any plasma transfusion, and possible damage to the lungs caused by an overload of these organs with plasma.
A study of 60 people, 30 receiving plasma injections from patients cured of Covid-19 and 30 receiving conventional care, is underway. The results of this study, called “Covidplasm” and respecting methodological standards, are expected, according to Dr. Karine Lacombe, for the first days of May at the latest. If its results are conclusive, the implementation of serotherapy to treat Covid-19 patients could be very rapid: there are many donors, the preparation of plasma bags only requires about a week and the laboratories will be able to offer very quickly specific immunoglobins.
Below, the interview of Dr. Karine Lacombe by Dr. Jean-François Lemoine:
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