Calexico Native part of national COVID research | COVID-19 (New Coronavirus Infection) (# Add parentheses when first appearing, if no character limit

Boise, Idaho-Calexico Indigenous Peoples of a Group of Hundreds of Doctors Nationwide Are Working on a Study to Determine Whether Plasma from Recently Collected COVID-19 Patients Helps to Cure or Prevent Disease One person.

Dr. Richard Miranda, a hematologist and oncologist at the St. Alphonse Regional Medical Center and a graduate of Calexico High School in 1974, is leading the COVID-19 convalescent plasma project at the National Hospital.

The project consists of 57 doctors and scientists from 46 states, self-organized to investigate convalescent plasma use in the current COVID-19 pandemic. The Leadership Group represents major US medical research institutes such as Michigan State University, Mayo Clinic School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, and Albert Einstein University. Medical.

On Thursday, Miranda oversaw the first transfusion of hospital plasma donated by a person who recovered from the virus and was donated to a critically ill patient. Antibodies in the provided plasma are expected to increase the chances of recovery and survival by fighting the virus in infected patients.

“This type of treatment is now available, instead of waiting a few months for vaccination,” Miranda said. “Our hope is that patients in the COVID unit will be given this plasma and they will need to be on a ventilator in the intensive care unit before the disease progresses to respiratory failure.”

Miranda said similar plasma antibody therapies have been used to treat other viruses, including the Spanish Cold Pandemic in 1918, SARS in 2003, H1N1 in 2009, and MERS in 2012.

Miranda acknowledged that there are still many uncertainties surrounding this work. In early April, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, under the granted extended access, caring use exemption, granted patients with life-threatening illnesses who had no approved treatments and could not participate in regular clinical trials. Approved the study. What this means is that the study does not have a control group to compare the results. Also, since the patients under study are already severely ill, it is unclear if treatment will be more effective if given early in the disease’s progression.

As a result, Miranda said the results have been “everywhere” so far.

He said more controlled clinical studies are underway. In the meantime, he said that plasma therapies, while unknown, offer great potential benefits with minimal risk.

Plasma therapy works with the American Red Cross in Idaho to obtain, screen, and classify plasma from appropriate donors. Other health care providers in St. Alphonsus and Boise are actively reaching out to COVID-19 recovered patients and contacting the Red Cross to donate plasma for this potentially life-saving treatment. Encouraged to do so.

Miranda responded positively, emphasizing the need for donations from patients who recovered from the COVID-19 virus. He said the number of patients who might benefit from therapy far exceeds available plasma. A single donation of plasma can treat 2-3 patients.

Miranda will report the blood transfusion results to the Mayo Clinic Research Department, which is conducting clinical trials. Currently, there are multiple FDA-approved clinical trials for the use of convalescent plasma therapy.

Miranda and the St. Alphonsus research team would like to participate in some of these national trials, including research by John Hopkins University, the Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, and the VIRUS Discovery Registry supported by the Critical Care Medical Society.