Convalescent plasma may reduce mortality …

If it contains high concentrations of neutralising antibodies, and if it is given soon after hospitalisation.

Welcome to The Medical Republic’s COVID Catch-Up.

It’s the day’s COVID-19 news in one convenient post. Email bianca@biancanogrady.com with any tips, comments or feedback.

6 November

• Convalescent plasma can reduce mortality if given early and with high antibody concentrations, study suggests.
• Cross-reactivity from other coronavirus antibodies may reduce COVID-19 risk or severity.
• Victorian government invests in wellbeing of Victorian healthcare workers.
• UK city Liverpool starts mass-testing residents for SARS-CoV-2.
• Latest confirmed COVID-19 infection numbers from around Australia.

• Convalescent plasma could reduce mortality from COVID-19 if it contains high concentrations of neutralising antibodies and is given soon after hospitalisation, a study has found.
  A paper published in the American Journal of Pathology reports the outcome of a case-control study in which 351 hospitalised patients were given transfusions of plasma from people who had previously recovered from COVID-19 and followed for 60 days, and their outcomes compared to propensity-matched controls. The convalescent plasma was selected to have high concentrations of the antibodies that target the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, but some patients received lower concentrations and some received higher concentrations.
  The study found a significantly lower 60-day mortality among individuals who received the transfusion within 72 hours of admission and were transfused with the high concentration plasma, compared to controls. The 60-day mortality rate in controls was 10.7% compared to 5.7% among those who received the transfusion.
  However no statistically significant benefits were seen for those transfused more than 72 hours after admission to hospital, who received plasma with a lower concentration of antibodies, or who were intubated when they received the plasma transfusion.
  “These findings support the notion that virus neutralizing antibodies present in COVID-19 convalescent plasma impart therapeutic benefit when patients are in the relatively early viral infection/replication phase of COVID-19 disease, but not after patients have progressed to manifest disease mechanisms such as a pathogenic severe inflammatory host response,” the authors wrote.
• Antibodies against other coronaviruses may confer some protection against SARS-CoV-2 or reduce the severity of illness, research suggests.
  A study, published in Science, looked for potentially cross-reactive antibodies to other human coronaviruses in blood samples taken from 170 patients who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 and from 350 uninfected adults and children.
  This revealed that a small number of the uninfected adults had human coronavirus antibodies that were cross-reactive with SARS-CoV-2, but nearly half of uninfected children aged 0-16 had cross-reactive antibodies against SARS-CoV-2. What’s more, researchers were able to demonstrate that these cross-reactive antibodies could have a neutralising effect on SARS-CoV-2 by preventing it from gaining entry into cells.
  “A possible modification of COVID-19 severity by prior HCoV [human coronavirus] infection may account for the age distribution of COVID-19 susceptibility, where higher HCoV infection rates in children than in adults correlates with relative protection from COVID-19 and may also shape seasonal and geographical patterns of transmission,” the authors wrote.
• Victorian healthcare workers are getting a ‘wellbeing package’ from the state government, which includes funding for a healthcare worker wellbeing centre with a focus on better management staff fatigue and stress, as well as providing advice and training.
  The $9.8 million package, announced today by Health and Human Services minister Martin Foley, will direct funds towards COVID-19-safe rest and recovery areas in health facilities for workers, increase access to specialist services, and tackle family violence that affects healthcare workers.
• The UK city of Liverpool is rolling out mass screening of its residents for COVID-19, which could see around half a million people tested for SARS-CoV-2.
  According to a report in the BMJ, Liverpool has one of the highest rates of COVID-19 in England and will be the first UK city to undertake mass testing. Tests will be offered to everyone, regardless of whether they have symptoms, using both RT-CPR and a point-of-care antibody test.
• Here are today’s confirmed COVID-19 infection numbers from around Australia to 9pm Sunday:
  National – 27,658, with 907 deaths
  ACT – 114 (0)
  NSW – 4462 (3)
  NT – 39 (0)
  QLD – 1177 (0)
  SA – 515 (3)
  TAS – 230 (0)
  VIC – 20,345 (0)
  WA – 776 (0)