The Philippine General Hospital (PGH) is requesting COVID-19 survivors to donate their blood to help find a cure for the disease. PGH spokesperson Dr. Jonas Del Rosario said that the hospital is exploring convalescent plasma therapy as a form of treatment for COVID-19.
“Now we thought about this because in the past, convalescent plasma taken from a person who has recovered from an infection and contain neutralizing antibodies were found to be helpful in other pandemics,” he said in an interview with ABS-CBN.
Dr. Del Rosario explained that convalescent plasma therapy helped control the H1N1 influenza virus pandemic, the 2003 SARS-CoV-1 epidemic, and the 2012 MERS-COV epidemic. This experimental treatment is also being used by U.S. hospitals to cure COVID-19 patients after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted authorization to conduct it.
Those who wish to donate blood may contact Dr. Sandy Maganito at 0917-8053207.
H/T: ABS-CBN, Philippine Star, Manila Bulletin
For more stories on COVID-19, please click here.
