Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is a new human disease with few effective treatments¹. Convalescent plasma, donated by persons who have recovered from COVID-19, is the acellular component of blood that contains antibodies, including those that specifically recognize SARS-CoV-2. These antibodies, when transfused into patients infected with SARS-CoV-2, are thought to exert an antiviral effect, suppressing virus replication before patients have mounted their own humoral immune responses^2,3. Virus-specific antibodies from recovered persons are often the first available therapy for an emerging infectious disease, a stopgap treatment while new antivirals and vaccines are being developed^1,2. This retrospective, propensity score–matched case–control study assessed the effectiveness of convalescent plasma therapy in 39 patients with severe or life-threatening COVID-19 at The Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. Oxygen requirements on day 14 after transfusion worsened in 17.9% of plasma recipients versus 28.2% of propensity score–matched controls who were hospitalized with COVID-19 (adjusted odds ratio (OR), 0.86; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.75–0.98; chi-square test P value = 0.025). Survival also improved in plasma recipients (adjusted hazard ratio (HR), 0.34; 95% CI, 0.13–0.89; chi-square test P = 0.027). Convalescent plasma is potentially effective against COVID-19, but adequately powered, randomized controlled trials are needed.

由严重急性呼吸系统综合症冠状病毒2（SARS-CoV-2）引起的冠状病毒病2019（COVID-19）是一种新型人类疾病，几乎没有有效的治疗方法¹。从COVID-19中恢复的人捐赠的恢复期血浆是血液中的无细胞成分，其中包含抗体，包括特异性识别SARS-CoV-2的抗体。这些抗体，当被注入感染SARS-CoV-2的患者时，被认为发挥抗病毒作用，在患者进行自身的体液免疫反应之前抑制病毒复制^2,3。来自康复者的病毒特异性抗体通常是新兴传染病的首个可用疗法，是一种权宜之计，同时正在开发新的抗病毒药和疫苗^1,2。这项回顾性倾向得分匹配的病例对照研究评估了纽约市西奈山医院39例严重或威胁生命的COVID-19患者的康复血浆治疗的有效性。输血后第14天的氧气需求量在17.9％的血浆接受者中较28.8％的倾向评分匹配对照者（COVID-19住院）恶化（校正比值比（OR）为0.86； 95％置信区间（CI）为0.75– 0.98；卡方检验P值= 0.025）。血浆接受者的生存率也得到了改善（调整后的危险比（HR）为0.34； 95％CI为0.13-0.89；卡方检验P  = 0.027）。恢复期血浆可能有效抵抗COVID-19，但需要有足够动力的随机对照试验。