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UPDATED 6:40 PM PT – Saturday, January 9, 2021
Doctors in Florida say a new treatment utilizing stem cells has been very effective in treating coronavirus.
Reports on Friday detailed the treatment, which uses stem cells gathered from the umbilical cord of a newborn baby. Patients treated with the cells reportedly saw a 91 percent survival rate with faster recovery times.
According to experts, the cells share properties with treatments used to fight auto-immune diseases.
Umbilical cord blood and cord, collected from hospitals, are prepared for storage. (Photo by WOJTEK RADWANSKI/AFP via Getty Images)
Doctors have called the treatment a “potential turning point.”
“These cells injected in the IV naturally go with a very simple procedure that does not require any invasive procedure,” Dr. Camillo Ricordi of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine said. “You can just direct the transfusion to the lung. The cells go to the lungs and it has just been an amazing kind of result and we are very excited to move to the next step.”
Medics transfer a patient on a stretcher from an ambulance outside of Emergency at Coral Gables Hospital where Coronavirus patients are treated in Coral Gables near Miami, Florida on December 10, 2020. – The United States on registered more than 3,000 deaths from Covid-19 in 24 hours, according to the Johns Hopkins University tally — the highest daily toll since April. (Photo by CHANDAN KHANNA / AFP) (Photo by CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images)
Doctors said using cells from just one umbilical cord can create therapeutic doses for more than 10,000 patients.