UW-Madison Holding Badgers Give Back Blood Drive
Tuesday, October 27th, 2020 -- 12:25 PM
(WMTV) -UW-Madison is holding The Badgers Give Back Blood Drive.Students who have recovered from COVID-19 are encouraged to donate, and their plasma can help patients and benefit the COVID-19 convalescent plasma program in Madison. According to Dr. William Hartman, principal investigator for COVID-19 clinical studies at UW Health, the plasma from people who have recovered from coronavirus can be a helpful tool in aiding patients currently battling the virus.
“Convalescent plasma has been a treatment for coronavirus since almost the beginning of the pandemic here in the United States,” Hartman said. “It’s the liquid part of blood, and people who recovered from the coronavirus, from COVID-19, they’ve already built up the antibodies that have defeated the virus, so those antibodies are still in that plasma. We’re able to take that plasma and give it to somebody who’s currently sick with COVID-19, with the hopes of those antibodies giving that patient an immune boost so they can defeat the virus as well.” Hartman said that one student can help at least two or three patients with their convalescent plasma donation.
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