Donor blood plasma from people who have recovered from COVID-19 appears to work as a treatment for the virus, a new analysis has revealed.

In this preliminary uncontrolled case series of 5 critically ill patients with COVID-19 and ARDS, administration of convalescent plasma containing neutralizing antibody was followed by improvement in their clinical status.

The limited sample size and study design preclude a definitive statement about the potential effectiveness of this treatment, and these observations require evaluation in clinical trials.

All 5 patients (age range, 36-65 years; 2 women) were receiving mechanical ventilation at the time of treatment and all had received antiviral agents and methylprednisolone.

Patients received transfusion with convalescent plasma with a SARS-CoV-2–specific antibody (IgG) binding titer greater than 1:1000 and a neutralization titer greater than 40 that had been obtained from 5 patients who recovered from COVID-19.

Blood of those who recover from the infection may contain elevated levels of antibodies that can be used to bolster the immune systems of patients with the disease.

This approach was tried with other serious infectious diseases like Ebola and SARS, another coronavirus.

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