COVID-19 had a Bradenton patient near death. A plasma donation changed everything
He didn’t have underlying health issues, yet the patient in his early 40s took a turn for the worse in the battle against COVID-19, the respiratory disease from the novel coronavirus causing a global pandemic.
He was on his way to Manatee Memorial Hospital’s intensive care unit to be intubated and placed on life support, when a phone call was made.
The Suncoast Blood Bank had plasma filled with antibodies from a previously recovered COVID-19 victim.
“Within 24 hours, that patient was sitting up and alert without any distress,” internal medicine specialist Dr. Satnam Singh told the Bradenton Herald in a phone interview. “The improvement was so dramatic that it seems like there’s a glimmer of hope that we’ll be able to save some people.”
Singh said it’s like a new life for that patient, who had difficulty breathing to the point of having almost 100 percent oxygen provided.
A miracle method
The plasma transfusion happened April 16, Singh said, and within a week the patient who was on the brink of life support in the ICU is now standing and walking without any issues while remaining in isolation at Manatee Memorial Hospital.
One other patient in Orlando began recovering from COVID-19 following a plasma infusion, according to multiple reports. But despite the early stages of convalescent plasma treatment, Singh said absolutely when asked if it feels like it could be a potential breakthrough in the fight against the novel coronavirus.
“The challenge in this case would be to harness or really harvest as much plasma as possible from (a) local population who has been infected with COVID-19 and recovered,” Singh said.
Singh said if there’s enough plasma available, he’s “really hopeful that it would make a difference in lots of people’s lives.”
The simple procedure for the Manatee Memorial patient fighting COVID-19 happened within hours of the call to the Suncoast Blood Bank, which had a match for his blood type. Positive COVID-19 people must wait 14 days after becoming negative and symptom free to donate their blood, so the antibodies can work in a current positive patient via a plasma transfusion.
“You have to be antibody titers for that plasma to be effective,” said Singh, who has had a private practice in west Bradenton since 2001.
How to donate locally
The Mayo Clinic and American Red Cross have a clinical trial program for eligible patients, and Manatee Memorial Hospital has joined the trial.
There’s a hotline number, 941-993-8119, to call and an email address that are used to screen volunteers for eligibility for COVID-19 antibody testing..
The Suncoast Blood Center has four locations, in Bradenton, Lakewood Ranch, Sarasota and Venice. A plasma donation, at 200cc, is almost the same as a unit of blood, Suncoast Blood Center director of community development Jayne Giroux said.
“People with type AB blood have universal plasma,” Giroux said. “It’s like people with O-negative blood, that’s the universal blood type. … It’s different for plasma.”
Plasma can be donated every 28 days, Giroux said, and the process takes roughly 40 minutes.
“It’s just one piece of the tool kit that we can offer doctors to treat these patients,” Giroux said. “And different people are going to respond differently. Not everybody is going to respond in the same way. But the patient at Manatee Memorial was very fortunate that this was the right treatment for him.”
This story was originally published April 24, 2020 at 1:43 PM.