FOUR RESEARCHERS — Capt. Edward Kilbane, Army Col. Jeffrey Jackson and Navy Lt. Cmdr. Thomas Luke, all alumni and faculty of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences and retired Navy physician Capt. Stephen Hoffman — analysed medical literature reported during the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918 to 1920.

Blood product transfusion

They found that transfusions with blood products from Spanish Flu survivors may have reduced the risk of death in seriously ill Spanish Flu patients.

The meta analysis of these data show that treatment of patients in 1918 with convalescent whole blood, plasma or serum obtained from humans who had recovered from Spanish Influenza resulted in a reduced mortality of seriously ill patients by 50 per cent.

They have discovered that a treatment for the Spanish Influenza pandemic may also be effective for current Avian Influenza patients.

The next steps

Their research was published in an online edition of the Annals of Internal Medicine. The next steps would be a study of whether using anti-bodies recovered from patients who have survived AV containing anti-H5N1 could lead to similar results for patients with Avian Influenza, according to a Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences press release.

In light of limitations

"Plasma is produced in local hospitals worldwide and transfusions might be useful in treating bird flu patients during outbreaks and pandemics, especially in light of the limitations of existing treatment options," Commander Luke said.

"A single recovered bird-flu patient could donate a weekly volume of plasma sufficient to treat many patients with H5N1 avian influenza." — Our Bureau

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