Survivors of COVID-19 who produce lots of disease-fighting antibodies carry within them a weapon in the fight to prevent severe complications from the coronavirus. Their antibody-rich blood plasma helps block the virus, when transfused early into newly diagnosed patients — and may even be helpful against infections with new variants of the coronavirus.
As a result, when an outbreak caused by a new variant of the coronavirus occurs in a community, its survivors could potentially become the medicine chest for others who fall sick, a New Jersey researcher said.
“They essentially have the treatment for the variants in their body,” said Dr. Michele Donato, lead researcher at Hackensack University Medical Center for a group of studies about COVID survivors’ blood plasma. “The plasma contains the antibodies of the virus that’s in the community at that time.”