Authorities Establish Treatment Guidelines for Transfusing Blood from COVID-19 Recovered Patients to Severe Cases (Update)

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Dae-yeol] On the 31st, the quarantine authorities announced that they are consulting with related experts on a plan to treat patients using the blood of those who have recovered from the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19). This method involves transfusing antibodies from recovered patients, and is being considered as one of the last resort options for severe patients in the absence of a COVID-19 treatment.

At a briefing on the same day, Kwon Jun-wook, Deputy Head of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters for COVID-19, stated, "We plan to prepare guidelines to utilize convalescent plasma from recovered patients for the treatment of severe COVID-19 patients." He added, "It is believed that antibodies capable of fighting COVID-19 are formed in the blood of recovered patients, and previously, in 2015, about nine cases of treatment attempts using convalescent plasma were made for severe MERS patients."

In simple terms, this is a method of transfusing antibodies in the blood to other patients. According to the quarantine authorities, there are reports from China, where many COVID-19 cases have occurred, indicating some effectiveness of this treatment.

Deputy Head Kwon explained that even for recovered patients, whether antibodies have formed, the level of immunity, and the duration of protection are key factors in managing future COVID-19 outbreaks. Therefore, after securing serum and other materials through the Blood Management Committee, decisions will be made based on expert opinions from related academic societies.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.