The World Health Organization (WHO) advised on Monday that the blood plasma of people who have recovered from COVID-19 should not be used to treat those who are sick.
Currently available data show that this does not improve the chances of survival or reduce the need for a ventilator.
The hypothesis for using blood plasma is that the antibodies it contains could neutralize the coronavirus, stopping it from replicating and stopping tissue damage.
Several studies that have tested blood plasma have shown no apparent benefit for the treatment of severely ill patients with COVID-19.
The US-based trial was halted in March after it was found that the plasma was unlikely to help coronavirus patients.
A panel of international experts issued a strong recommendation against the use of plasma in patients who do not have serious illnesses, the WHO announced.
They also advised against its use in patients with severe and critical illness, except in the context of a sporadic controlled trial.
This method is also expensive and time-consuming to apply, the WHO stated.
The recommendation published in the British Medical Journal is based on evidence from 16 trials that included 16.236 patients with mild, severe and critical coronavirus infection.
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