Volunteers needed for COVID-19 plasma trials at UC’s College of Medicine

Volunteers needed for COVID-19 plasma trials at UC’s College of Medicine
Updated: Sep. 17, 2020 at 9:49 PM EDT
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CINCINNATI (FOX19) - You can be part of the University of Cincinnati’s College of Medicine and Johns Hopkins University’s study of two new possible treatments for COVID-19.

The study will use convalescent blood plasma to test its effectiveness as outpatient therapy.

The trial will help determine whether antibodies from people who have recovered from COVID-19 can help those who have been recently exposed or have been recently been diagnosed and have symptoms.

The plasma treatment has been proven to be effective, but currently, the procedure is only done in hospitals, according to researchers.

Transitioning this to outpatient therapy is one of the first steps in returning to normal, they say.

“My 80-year-old parents, they don’t want to go out and risk getting the infection because they know right now their only recourse if they get sick is hope they are not in the 10 or 20% who go to the hospital," said Dr. David Sullivan, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. "But if you knew you could get a single one-stop one-hour transfusion and you could provide protection for a month or two. That if you knew you could get this and not go to the hospital then I think people would return to the workplace, to what they normally do without fear.”

The trials are being done at UC’s College of Medicine.

They are looking for people over the age of 18 who have tested positive for COVID-19 no more than five days ago or those who were in close contact with someone who has COVID-19 no more than three days ago.

To enroll in the program you can call 1-888-506-1199.

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