Oldenburg / Dessau – The DRK blood donation service Niedersachsen-Sachsen-Anhalt-Thüringen-Oldenburg-Bremen (NSTOB) is looking for people who have been through a Covid 19 infection with clear symptoms and who now want to help other sick people by donating plasma overcome.
“In principle, this is an approach that you have as a healing attempt for the affected patients. There is currently no approved drug that works for corona patients, “says Dr. Hagen Baume, department head for the cytapheresis department (transfusion medicine) at the Oldenburg Institute of the German Red Cross.
Therefore the doctors tried to support the patients in their immune defense. This works through the release of antibodies from former Covid patients, says Dr. Baume: “We at the institute do this for our catchment area in Oldenburg.” That also happens in Dessau (Saxony-Anhalt).
“We have been running the program in Oldenburg since June 22nd. Fortunately, many people willing to donate have contacted us, ”says the doctor. “Basically all people who are also suitable for a blood donation are suitable.” However, the problem is to first find suitable donors with enough antibodies. Again, not everyone is an option. In the case of many willing donors, the concentration of antibodies against the coronavirus in the blood is not so high that a therapeutic agent can be made from it, he explains. According to Dr. Baume often fails to find donors who actually have enough antibodies. We do it in such a way that we quantitatively determine the antibody content. We have set a limit to where we can allow donors and then use the preparations.
“We currently have four regular donors,” says the expert. This week six people willing to donate came to the Institute for Transfusion Medicine. So far there have been a total of 16 plasma donors who have made 38 donations. “We aim for a donation interval of one week to 14 days. According to the guidelines that apply to us, 60 donations are permitted within twelve months, ”explains Dr. Trees. An expense allowance will be paid. Two preparations are obtained from one donation, so that two treatments are possible on different patients.
Organizationally, the process works in such a way that all interested donors can contact the DRK Institute in Oldenburg by phone on 0441/9440118 or by email to [email protected]. Then all questions about the topic would be answered and the further procedure explained. After that, an appointment is made for a preliminary examination on which a test for sufficient antibodies is carried out in the donor. The result from the institute’s own laboratory in Springe (Hanover) will be available on the following day at the earliest. “If everything fits, we’ll make an appointment,” says the transfusion doctor. The plasma donation then takes place in the Institute for Transfusion Medicine in Oldenburg.
As a guideline, it could be roughly said that “whoever had more severe symptoms probably later has more antibodies in the blood”.
Dr. Baume continues: “We are always dependent on finding new people willing to donate.” After a corona infection has been overcome, the concentration of antibodies in the blood will drop over time, so that those who have recovered cannot help others. “For most of them, the antibody concentration is below the limit after six months at the latest, at which a plasma donation is useful for antibody production.”
Donating blood plasma with the antibodies is not dangerous, emphasizes Dr. Baume in conclusion. For the body, what is no longer acutely dangerous is of no interest and is therefore no longer fought. “However, we have memory cells that immediately start up again when we come into contact with the coronavirus,” said the doctor. That goes within a very short time, then our immune system is ready to defend against the pathogen again.
From Gregor Hühne
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