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PROCESS WILL START AS EARLY AS WEDNESDAY. YES (WORKING ON THIS) AS PART OF AN EXPERIMENTAL INITIATIVE TO USE PLASMA TO TREAT THOSE ILL WITH COVID 19 NOW. " This is still an experimental treatment ." AN EXPERIMENTAL TREATMENT JOHN ARMITAGE ARM-I- TAYGE WITH THE OKLAHOMA BLOOD INSTITUTE --- HOPES WILL BE THE ANSWER TO SICK PATIENTS FIGHTING COVID-19. "We're anxious to identify donors those who can possibly take their past illness and recovery and turn it into a treatment for a neighbor!" OBI ESTABLISHING AN ONLINE REGISTRY FOR RECOVERED COVID 19 PATIENTS TO REGISTER AS POSSIBLE DONORS--- BUT TO GIVE, YOU MUST HAVE A DOCUMENTED DIAGNOSIS OF THE VIRUS.. HAVE A CURRENT NEGATIVE RESULT.. AND BE SYMPTOM FREE FOR AT LEAST 14 DAYS PRIOR TO DONATION. "They have to have the immune response in their blood. : 53 "They've got the wonderful immune proteins that can be given to someone else." 4:05 ARMITAGE SAYS THE PLASMA DONATION ITSELF -- PRETTY MUCH THE SAME AS WHAT'S THEY'RE DOING NOW. ONCE THE PLASMA IS COLLECTED - THE RESULTS WILL COME BACK FROM THE OBI LAB AS SOON AS 24 HOURS. 'Someone who's been thru the anxiety of the illness, I think it's an affirmation that they're healthy and now they can share their good health." THE XX REPORTS XXXXX HAVE RECOVERED FROM COVID-19 IN OKLAHOMA SO FAR... AND XX HAVE SIGNED UP WITH OBI TO BE PLASMA DONORS FOR THIS NEW TREATMENT.. PATRINA ADGER KOCO 5 N

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OU Medicine announced details of its participation in a clinical trial of a therapy to treat the sickest coronavirus patients. The trial, called “Expanded Access to Convalescent Plasma for the Treatment of Patients with COVID-19,” is a collaboration with Mayo Clinic, officials said. Mayo Clinic received FDA approval Friday to enroll other institutions. OU Medicine signed up and received approval to begin trying this therapy on its most-ill COVID-19 patients on Monday. According to OU Medicine officials, Convalescent Plasma therapy involves taking plasma from a recovered COVID-19 patient and giving it to a current patient. Coronavirus in Oklahoma: Latest local headlines“The theory is that the plasma from the recovered person will have significant amounts of antibodies to the virus,” said Dr. Jordan Metcalf, OU Medicine pulmonary and critical care medicine specialist. “This should make it easier for the patient to combat the infection and keep the virus from infecting other cells. Then, the patient can begin healing.”To date, there have only been small studies on this therapy, Metcalf said, but the results have been promising, including improvement in the patient’s symptoms and respiratory status within one to three days. For many of the patients, the need for ventilation or oxygen therapy decreased quickly. Currently, the patients eligible for the study must be severely ill or in a life-threatening situation, OU Medicine officials said. For a patient to receive this therapy, they must have a compatible blood type with the donor, according to officials. With Oklahoma still having relatively low numbers of recovered patients, finding donors can be a challenge, Metcalf said. The Oklahoma Blood Institute is currently screening donors in central Oklahoma for this program. Metcalf said as soon as OU Medicine was approved as a site for convalescent plasma, he immediately received requests to enroll current hospitalized patients. Donors have been identified for the hospital system’s first and second patients, which should be treated with the plasma by the end of this week.Metcalf explained that while convalescent plasma is a new potential therapy for COVID-19 patients, it is not a new concept. “Scientists and physicians have been using this method of treatment for 100 years. It was one of the original therapies for bacterial pneumonia before antibiotics were used,” Metcalf said.Metcalf said this therapy has been used on other coronaviruses like MERS and SARS.Potential donors can find more information online. Recovered COVID-19 patients can register as potential convalescent plasma donors through the Oklahoma Blood Institute’s registry online. It allows users to submit confidential health and social information via a secure site and to list themselves as potential volunteers for medical research.