The New England Journal of Medicine has published a major study on the use of blood plasma from recovering COVID-19 patients to help fight the disease in others. Two hams were involved in the study conducted by the Mayo Clinic, Johns Hopkins University and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. According to the ARRL Letter, Dr. Scott Wright, K0MD, of the Mayo Clinic was co-principal investigator and "public face" of the study. The other ham involved was Dr. Peter Marks, AB3XC, of the FDA.
Results showed that administration of so-called convalescent plasma reduced the risk of death by 36% among patients not on a ventilator, and by just over 6% for more seriously ill patients. Wright says he hopes the treatment will be particularly useful in parts of the world where more advanced (and expensive) approaches are not available. Over 100,000 people took part in the study.
