Miami University

As the COVID-19 outbreak has hit the Cincinnati area, many of our neighbors have required hospitalization for treatment of the virus. The FDA has approved an Emergency Use Authorization to allow the use of convalescent donor plasma.  Convalescent plasma is collected from recovered COVID19 patients who weeks earlier have been found cleared from the disease and found to have developed enough antibodies in their plasma.

Convalescent donor plasma may ameliorate the progression of the disease and even in some patients change significantly the outcome of the disease progression.

Hoxworth is seeking individuals who have recovered from a documented infection of COVID-19 and have been symptom free for at least 14 days.  If you meet this criteria, please contact Hoxworth Blood Center through the form below.

Donating convalescent plasma is an incredible way to make a difference during this time of uncertainty—and when you donate with Hoxworth, your plasma is guaranteed to go to a patient in need right here in the Tri-state area. Hoxworth is the only blood bank in our community, and the sole provider of blood, platelets, and plasma to over 30 hospitals in the states of Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana.  Donating with Hoxworth, a non-profit organization, ensures that your plasma will be given to a critically ill patient, not used for shipment to pharmaceutical laboratories overseas (which is the case for many other for-profit plasma donation centers in the area).  For more information, call us at 513-451-0910 or email HoxCovid19@uc.edu. 

Patients eligible to receive convalescent plasma must have a severe or immediately life-threatening infection with laboratory confirmed COVID-19.

Individuals who have recovered from a documented infection of COVID-19 and have been symptom free for at least 14 days, are eligible to donate. 

Under FDA policy, convalescent plasma must only be collected from recovered individuals if they are eligible to donate plasma, required testing must be performed, and the donation must be found suitable.

As testing has been limited in the region, Individuals who believe they had COVID-19 may donate plasma.  The product will be tested for antibodies following donation.

The therapy is based on a medical concept called “passive immunity.” People who recover from an infection develop antibodies that circulate in the blood and can neutralize the pathogen. 

Through transfusion it is the hope that these antibodies will improve the disease fighting response to the virus. Antibodies will act as a boost to the immune system.

This type of therapy is more than 100 years old and was used during the 1918 flu pandemic, a time when antiviral drugs and most vaccines did not exist. This approach was used for polio, measles and mumps.

According to the FDA, “It is not currently known if convalescent plasma will be an effective treatment against COVID-19.” Since there are no known effective treatments, multiple options are under investigation by the scientific community. Some information suggests that convalescent plasma could help some coronavirus patients – especially those who are seriously ill. Since plasma transfusions are generally safe for most patients, the FDA announced an initiative to investigate this as a treatment option. Hoxworth Blood Center is committed to assisting with plasma collections from carefully-screened recovered COVID-19 patients to enable rapid access to treatment for the most seriously ill patients.