Antibodies and Covid

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Anchor lead: What is the role of antibody treatments in Covid-19? Elizabeth Tracey reports

If you’ve been diagnosed with Covid-19, should you ask your physician to treat you with antibodies, as some former federal authorities have suggested? Brian Garibaldi, a critical care medicine expert at Johns Hopkins, reviews the evidence.

Garibaldi: There have been two outpatient trials looking at people who have symptomatic Covid. If you give them either of the two monoclonal antibody products there’s a reduction in the likelihood of them being hospitalized, but it’s a very small benefit, they’re small studies. Right now we know these are not treatments for people who have gotten sick enough to go to the hospital and it’s still unclear what their role is on a widespread scale outside of the hospital. Could you use these as a way of preventing infection in people who have likely been exposed?  :29

Another recent study found that giving antibodies to nursing home residents and staff did reduce the number who went on to develop symptomatic Covid-19 after they were known to be exposed, so ask your physician if you are a candidate for their use. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.