The Red Cross is warning that convalescent plasma is now in short supply, CBS News reported.
Convalescent plasma, antibody-rich blood plasma that is collected from people who have recovered from COVID-19, is given via blood transfusion to COVID-19 patients. In early studies, it gave patients a 35 percent better chance of survival when given to themin early stages of infection, CBS News reported.
Another study published this month in the New England Journal of Medicine found that convalescent plasma reduced the progression of COVID-19 in older patients when given within 72 hours of the start of symptoms.
"We just simply can't keep up. We need as many of our recovered COVID-19 patients as possible to roll up their sleeves and come in and donate," Pampee Young, MD, PhD, chief medical officer at the American Red Cross, told Albuquerque, N.M-based CBS affiliate KRQE.
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