Wanted: Plasma From Recovered COVID Patients

Fox News: Surgeon General Calls On Coronavirus Survivors To Donate Convalescent Plasma
The U.S. surgeon general is calling on Americans who have recovered from coronavirus to donate plasma in order to help those who are still battling the illness. Surgeon General Jerome Adams sad current ongoing research shows that convalescent plasma is "safe and, when it’s given early and contains a high concentration of antibodies, it can help improve a patient’s chance of recovery." "If you are among the millions of Americans who have had COVID-19, you may have a precious resource that can help save other lives," Adams said, in a statement released Monday. "Plasma donated by people who have recovered from COVID-19 may contain antibodies to the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes the disease. These antibodies may help suppress the virus and provide patients with clinical benefit." (Hein, 12/21)

In other science and research news about the coronavirus —

The Wall Street Journal: Long-Haul Covid Patients Put Hope In Experimental Drugs 
Some pharmaceutical companies and researchers are moving to launch the first clinical trials for drugs intended to treat long-term Covid. So far, these drugs are experimental, and aren’t FDA-approved for any condition, whether Covid or any other disease they were originally developed to treat. The enthusiasm for them among patients reflects a hope for anything that might give them some relief. (Reddy, 12/21)

The Atlantic: The Mysterious Link Between COVID-19 And Sleep
The newly discovered coronavirus had killed only a few dozen people when Feixiong Cheng started looking for a treatment. He knew time was of the essence: Cheng, a data analyst at the Cleveland Clinic, had seen similar coronaviruses tear through China and Saudi Arabia before, sickening thousands and shaking the global economy. So, in January, his lab used artificial intelligence to search for hidden clues in the structure of the virus to predict how it invaded human cells, and what might stop it. One observation stood out: The virus could potentially be blocked by melatonin. (Hamblin, 12/21)

The Washington Post: Headaches, Migraines Are Getting Worse During The Pandemic 
The familiar, all-consuming pain hit Kate Sosin in early May: a migraine. As a chronic migraine sufferer who typically experienced full-blown attacks a couple of times a month, Sosin simply thought: “Here we go again.” But the intense migraine attacks started coming more frequently, and are “eating me alive,” said Sosin, a 35-year-old reporter for the 19th, an online news organization. The Los Angeles resident, who uses they/them pronouns, now has three to four bad days a week — despite an increase in medication and regular treatment through a headache clinic. (Chiu, 12/21)

CIDRAP: Pigs Susceptible To SARS-CoV-2, Researchers Discover
In a study in Emerging Infectious Diseases late last week, Canadian and US researchers found that pigs are susceptible to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, highlighting the need for additional livestock assessment to determine the potential role of domestic animals in the pandemic. Previous studies indicated that swine are not susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection, but they did not measure seroconversion (antibody production), the authors note. (12/21)

Also —

CIDRAP: Higher Pandemic Death Rate Found In Hispanics, Older Adults, Less Educated
A study of pandemic deaths in California in JAMA Internal Medicine today found the highest excess mortality in older adults, black and Hispanic residents, and those without college degrees. Excess death rates for Hispanic residents and those without a high school degree more than tripled after reopening, likely due to increased COVID-19 risk faced by low-wage, essential workers. Researchers evaluated mortality data across population subgroups in California from Mar 1 to Aug 22, finding 19,806 deaths in excess of those predicted by historical trends (95% prediction interval, 16,364 to 23,210). California has a population of 39 million, about 12% of the total US population. (12/21)

KQED: UCSF Doctor Challenges Reports Of High COVID-19 Rates In Black Community
When UCSF wanted to look into COVID-19 disparities in the Black community, they tapped Dr. Kim Rhoads. Rhoads is an epidemiologist and biostatistician at UCSF who has done extensive outreach in the Bay Area’s Black community. Most current research points to higher COVID-19 infection rates among Black people in the U.S. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says Black Americans are 1.4 times more likely to catch the virus compared to their white counterparts. (That rate was at 2.6 times more likely when KQED checked on Nov. 21.) And according to the state public health department, Black people make up approximately 4% of positive cases in California but only 6% of the total population in the state. But according to Rhoads, those statistics don't tell the full story. (Chang, 12/21)