ATLANTA - It's been 3 weeks since Juli St George came down with what she is certain is COVID-19.
And, it's been rough.
"I'm a healthy 45-year-old woman, and it knocked me down," the Atlanta realtor says.
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COVID-19 survivors donate plasma
Donated plasma from recovered coronavirus patients may help newly infected patients recover faster
St. George was tested coronavirus at a local emergency department but has never received her results.
Yet, if an antibody test reveals St George did, in fact, have this new coronavirus, as she suspects
she may also have a secret weapon that can help newly infected Georgians: her blood, or
more specifically, her plasma.
It's the yellow, or straw-colored liquid that is filled with protective antibodies.
Dr. Kent Holland, Director of the Bone Marrow Transplant Program at Northside Hospital and Atlanta Blood Services, says when we're infected with a virus like COVID-19, we produce antibodies that can neutralize the virus.
That's why, for more than a century, starting with the Spanish Flu in 1918, doctors have been using
the plasma of survivors, known as convalescent plasma, to help critically ill patients.
"We don’t know at this point if it would work against COVID-19," Dr. Holland says. "There was a case reported out of China. In 5 people, who were very ill, who received convalescent plasma, they were able to reverse their illness in about a week."
Right now, there are about 5,000 Georgians who've tested positive for COVID-19.
Holland and his team are working with the Georgia Department of Public Health to try to set up a system,
to collect plasma from coronavirus survivors and give it to newly infected people hospitalized with the virus.
"Most people are still infected right now," Holland says. "But we’re hopeful that in a month or two, we’ll have hundreds of people who have gone through this and recovered."
Because relatively few Georgians are being tested for the virus, Holland says, they hope to use an antibody screening test that would reveal whether a potential donor has been infected.
Donating plasma is similar to donating blood, he says, and one donation of plasma could help 2 or 3 newly infected patients.
"It's going to be important for those who've had the COVID-19, to, once they recover, to at least be open to going to a donor center to donate their plasma, because they're going to be able to help many other people."
Dr. Holland says.
Juli St George, who is already a regular blood donor, says she's in.
"If they can use my plasma, my blood my cells, anything they need to help cure other folks with this, absolutely," St George says.