convalescent plasma

Overview

Mississippi Valley Regional Blood Center will collect plasma donations from patients who have recovered from a COVID-19 infection to help newly diagnosed patients fight the disease. The treatment, known as convalescent plasma therapy, requires plasma provided by donors who have recently recovered from a COVID-19 infection. These donors will have antibodies to help fight COVID-19. The treatment has been used in recent years to treat victims of Ebola, SARS, and H1N1 influenza.

eligibility criteria

antibody testing

The blood center does NOT do antibody testing on all donors. For Convalescent plasma donors, we accept donors who HAVE HAD a positive molecular test for COVID-19 (SARS-Co-V-2 virus) with limited exceptions.  There are several important reasons. 

• Patients with molecular confirmation (PCR) and who were sicker (especially if hospitalized) have higher levels of antibody needed in the Convalescent Plasma. These donors are more likely to provide an effective product.
• Due to a large number of non-definitive antibody tests being used by various laboratories, many of them are not accepted by FDA to qualify good convalescent plasma donors, the Blood Center rely on these results provided by donors to determine antibody levels.
• The Blood Center will be conducting limited antibody screening using a test acceptable to the FDA to evaluate if screening of large populations can help qualify more Convalescent Plasma donors. This is only being done at select Donor Centers and mobile blood drives where there has been a high rate of COVID in the surrounding county and will be done for a limited period of time.
• Screening large numbers of donors who have not experienced more severe symptoms of COVID-19 illness and who never had a positive PCR test is an expensive and inefficient way to find donors for the Convalescent Plasma program. 
• It is important for individuals who receive antibody screening results to avoid misinterpretation of the results. 
  • Negative results do not mean you have not been infected—there are false negatives, and antibodies can disappear over time
  • Positive results do not mean that an individual has immunity to COVID-19. 

Donors without an initial positive molecular test but that have had antibody testing done, are encouraged to give a voluntary blood donation.  The products from traditional blood donations help save and enhance patient lives every day and are critical for patients in need.

If criteria changes, we will review and update our practices accordingly.

referral form

Click on the red button below for either self-referrals or care provider referrals.  After reviewing your submission, the Blood Center will follow up with potential donors to schedule a plasma donation at a MVRBC Donor Center. 

Self-Referral & Care Provider Referral Form

Questions

patientservices@mvrbc.org 
(833) 610-1025

Please note: US COVID Plasma EAP Hospital Blood Bank Transfusion Reaction Reporting Requirements The hospital blood bank is required to send a report to uscovidplasma@mayo.edu and  2-Quality@mvrbc.org for any transfusion-related reaction that occurs for patients enrolled in the EAP that receive convalescent plasma.
 

Social Media Toolkit

  
Download News Release Template       Link to Dr. Goel Presentation

videos

Scroll down to watch the stories from convalescent plasma donors.