Erasmus MC teaching hospital has begun testing whether antibodies from people who have recovered from the coronavirus can be used in treatment.

The NOS writes that one corona patient has now received plasma (a component of the blood) from another who has recovered from covid-19.

This is the start of a scientific study to see to what extent people develop immunity from the virus, and how much of this can be passed on through antibodies in the blood.

Bart Rijnders, head of the research team at Erasmus MC, told the NOS. ‘During the SARS epidemic in 2003, a few small studies were carried out using the plasma of people who had recovered from SARS,’ he reportedly said.

‘These studies give some indications that administering plasma containing antibodies reduces the chance of death. It could probably help to reduce the stay in hospital and amount of virus.’

Internationally, many hospitals are conducting small studies into whether this form of treatment could help and the teaching hospital in Rotterdam hopes to be the first to conduct a larger-scale, scientific study.