Two recovered coronavirus patients in Jiangsu province have donated their plasma to those in severe condition in Wuhan, epicenter of the novel coronavirus disease or COVID-19, JSBC reports on Saturday.
The two cured patients in Nanjing, who were discharged from hospital recently, donated their plasma on Friday, making the first donation of such kind in Nanjing.
Unlike blood donation, plasma donation is performed by a special plasma separator, which separates the blood plasma, and then returns blood cells to the donor.
One of the cured patients was discharged on February 8. He said: "When I heard about this in the news, I was thinking that I would come to donate my plasma when I was cured, hoping to help patients in severe conditions.”
Wei Hongxia, a member of the Nanjing Municipal Health Commission’s Expert Team for the Prevention and Control of Novel Coronavirus Epidemic, said: "The plasma of the recovered patients contains specific antibodies against novel coronary pneumonia, which has shown preliminary efficacy in patients of novel coronary pneumonia."
200 ml of plasma was successfully separated from the recovered in half an hour. This precious plasma will be transfused into critically ill patients to help them fight the virus and win hope.
Experts say more than 90% of the components in the plasma are water. After the plasma is donated, the appropriate amount of water is added, and the blood volume will soon recover. Loss of protein components such as antibodies and complements due to plasma donation can generally be restored within two to three days after ensuring a nutritionally balanced diet.
Nearly 20 recovered people in Nanjing have signed up to volunteer plasma donations. Nanjing Public Health Medical Center will continue to organize voluntary plasma donation for the treatment of local patients and support Hubei when necessary.
Zhang Xia, head of the Novel Coronavirus Medical Treatment Team of Nanjing Public Health Medical Center, said: "Novel coronovary pneumonia patients in Nanjing are in relatively stable condition and the critical ill patients have shown improvement. We do not have particularly urgent demand for plasma but we can support Hubei whenever the central government needs us to do so. "
