APRIL 4, 2020:  Prevention is good but treatment is now available as well. Here is my current understanding of what you can do if you get infected

Your doctor is probably aware of new treatments, but since they are not officially approved by FDA (Food and Drug Administration, an institution notoriously slow to approve treatments), your doctor may need you to initiate the discussion.  

ANTIMALARIAL MEDICATION PLUS AZITHROMYCIN

Hydroxychloroquine or Chloroquine (used normally for Malaria and Lupus)  plus Azithromycin (Z-pack), 

These medications have not been specifically approved for the Coronavirus. However, those familiar with the efficacy of Antimalarial drugs against the virus feel that they cannot let patients die why they wait for FDA approval because the drugs were seen by others as obviously lifesaving. Doctors in New York, New Orleans and other „hot” places are using them on hundreds, perhaps thousands of patients.

CONVALESCENT PLASMA

When you recover from Covirus19, after you shed the virus, your blood becomes a precious, life-saving commodity; it contains antibodies against the virus. Plasma is what remains of your blood after the red cells and platelets are spun away.
If you donate your plasma to a Blood Bank, the person or group you donate the plasma to will have a chance to survive when they become infected. You may need to specify that you want to make a restricted, directed donation for someone ill, or a group.  Each 250cc of blood will provide plasma for 2-3 people.

There is no FDA approval for the use of convalescent plasma (with exception of the Methodist Blood Bank).  So there is no official action at the blood banks.  But, if you donate your plasma to a Blood Bank, the person or group you donate the plasma to, will have a chance to survive if they become infected. Each 250cc of blood will provide plasma for 2-3 people. You may need to specify that you want to make a restricted, directed donation for someone ill, or a group. 

You have to ask your doctor to consider all this. Most doctors have never dealt with an epidemic like this one. Some are too young to know that convalescent plasma has been used with good results for 100 years, first during the Spanish flu of 2017, then other epidemics.  It saved the lives of 2 health employees in Dallas during the first wave of Ebola transmission a few years ago. 

Do wszystkich Polaków w Houstonie: Trzymajcie się, izolujcie się w czasie epidemii, nie chorujcie!  Pamiętajcie, że są lekarstwa na Coronavirus, nawet jesli prasa i telewizja o nich nie wspominają. I jesli znacie kogoś kto wyzdrowiał po tej infekcji, zachęcajcie tę osobę do donacji krwi w najbliższym Banku Krwi.  Krew z przeciwciałami przeciw wirusowi może uratować czyjeś życie!

I wish everybody good luck and good health,

Agnes Guthrie MD 

April 4, 2020

Dr. Agnes Guthrie is a radiologist in Houston, Texas. She has been in practice for more than 20 years.