Kalamazoo hospitals begin treating coronavirus patients with plasma donations – MLive.com

KALAMAZOO, MI -- Kalamazoos two major hospitals have signed onto a national initiative to use plasma donated from coronavirus survivors as a treatment for current patients.

Bronson Methodist and Ascension Borgess hospitals both have recovered as well as currently hospitalized COVID-19 patients.

Both are working with Versiti Blood Center to receive the plasma donations. The center has locations in Portage, Grand Rapids and Grandville.

Related: Southwest Michigan hospital treating COVID-19 patients with plasma of survivors

On Wednesday, April 29, Bronson requested its first plasma transfer for a patient, said Dr. Carla Schwalm, medical director of Bronson Childrens Hospital Pediatric Hematology and Oncology.

At that time, the downtown hospital was caring for 21 patients and has recorded 42 recoveries, according to Bronsons data.

Though Ascension Borgess has declined to disclose a precise number of patients and recoveries, citing patient privacy, Chief Medical Director Thomas Rohs said the hospital is treating about 15 COVID-19 patients on average.

Since April 18, Ascension Borgess has enrolled six patients to receive plasma donations, Rohs said.

The plasma treatment would give current patients passive immunity," said both Rohs and Schwalm.

A plasma transfusion from a survivor transfers antibodies that have been exposed to COVID-19 to the current patient. Those antibodies can attack the virus and improve the chances of the patient getting not as sick or of them recovering faster, Schwalm said.

This is different than what a vaccine can offer, she said. A vaccine is usually composed of a dead or mild strain of the virus, and then the body creates antibodies in response.

You are not exposed to the virus by receiving somebodys plasma, Schwalm said. You are only getting the benefit of that person having been exposed to the virus, and then they made these little proteins.

To be able to donate plasma, a coronavirus survivor needs to be free of symptoms for 28 days, Schwalm said.

The first person to receive a plasma donation at Ascension Borgess has since been released from the hospital, Rohs said. But it is too soon to tell what role the plasma played in the patients recovery.

Given the small pool of people who are eligible to give and receive the treatment, it will be a slow process to determine if plasma is boosting immune systems like its predicted to, Rohs said.

But, as time passes and recovery numbers increase, so will the number of eligible donors, he said.

For the precious few who are out there and truly recovered and feeling well if you line up and stick your arm out to get some plasma available to people, that would be great, Rohs said.

The median number of days patients are feeling symptomatic is around 19 days, he said. When symptoms escalate to a point where hospitalization is needed, those patients usually stay about three days in the COVID-19 unit, Rohs said.

Although the plasma treatment success rate is unknown, there are very few risks, Rohs said. For that reason, the treatment became the best defense in this unprecedented battle.

These people are incredibly sick," Rohs said. If there is any opportunity to have a treatment specific to this disease, other than what were calling supportive care, we felt really compelled to try to maximize their chances by putting this in place.

A visual representation of the increasing case counts and death toll in Kalamazoo County is shown below, based on data reported by the state. Apparent conflicts in data reported there result from slight differences in daily case counts provided by state and county health officials.

More coronavirus coverage on MLive:

Coronavirus death toll rises to 13 in Kalamazoo County, with 364 total cases

Kalamazoo County ramps up COVID-19 testing, announces 2 new rolling test sites

Kalamazoo hospitals adapt to new normal after coronavirus brings uncertain future

Enforcing social distancing on lakes is beyond an incredible feat, Kalamazoo County sheriff says

See the article here:

Kalamazoo hospitals begin treating coronavirus patients with plasma donations - MLive.com