Study suggests plasma therapy for Covid-19 largely ineffective

 http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/291971

 The results of a medium-sized clinical trial conducted in Argentina suggest that one mode of treatment for coronavirus, that of using plasma harvested from people who have recovered from the illness, is not as effective as was previously hoped.

According to Reuters, the study involved 333 patients hospitalized with severe cases of pneumonia brought on by Covid-19 infection. The patients were randomly assigned to plasma treatment or placebo, and after 30 days, the mortality rate was almost identical in the two groups (11. % in the plasma-treated group versus 11.4% in the placebo group).

The study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine, which concluded that the therapy known as “convalescent plasma” did not cause any significant improvement to patients’ health or chances of recovery.