ST. LOUIS – President Trump received an experimental treatment The White House called an “antibody cocktail” to treat his COVID diagnosis.
Doctors at Washington University Medical School have been researching the treatment.
Just after the pandemic began, doctors started using blood plasma from recovered Covid-19 patients to treat those who are currently sick with the potentially deadly illness.
Friday night, people in St. Louis were not shocked to learn the president had become infected with the coronavirus and hospitalized, because of the way he’s talked about and dealt with the disease.
Leah Fine said, “Honestly I’m surprised he didn’t get it sooner.”
Doctors at Washington University suspect blood plasma may fight off the illness. Wash U. is working with two companies, one that apparently created the experimental cocktail for the president.
Anti-bodies from blood plasma are transfused into the patient.
Washington University Associate Professor Dr. Rachel Presti said, “What the companies have done is figured out which are the best antibodies against SARS and COVID and purified them in the lab and figured out ways to make more of them.”
The White House released a statement saying the president was taking several over the counter medicines and vitamins. Emilee Murry, a pharmacist at the Ladue Pharmacy described how they can help someone who’s sick.
“Zinc [has been] shown to help reduce length of a cold,” said Murry.
Murry said a medicine called Famotidine is used “in COVID to help reduce your inflammatory response.”
Lastly, melatonin “helps us to sleep if you have more sleep this will help healing COVID or help healing any infection quicker,” Murry said.
She says aspirins help prevent blood clots which show up in some COVID patients.
Dr. Presti said preliminary findings of the infusion the president received shows it seems to help.
