Plasma Therapy For COVID-19 | What is plasma therapy??

Описание: Plasma Therapy For COVID-19 | What is plasma therapy??
The deadly coronavirus has infected more than 2 million people worldwide. Though doctors and governments are trying hard, there is still no cure for the disease. Scientists are experimenting with various vaccines, drugs and other treatment methods to fight COVID 19.
One such treatment is plasma therapy. Reportedly, a 49-year-old male is the first person to recieve plasma therapy in Max Hospital, Saket. The treatment worked for him and now he is out of danger, reported the hospital.

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has allowed states to start the clinical trials of plasma therapy. States like Kerala, Gujarat and Punjab have already initiated the plasma therapy for patients suffering from COVID 19.

What is plasma therapy?
Convalescent Plasma Therapy is an experimental procedure to treat COVID 19 infection. In this treatment method, plasma from a COVID patient who has fully recovered is transfused into a coronavirus patient with critical condition.
How does plasma therapy work?
Plasma therapy treats patients by transferring the immunity from a healthy person to a sick person. The therapy uses antibodies from the blood of the recovered coronavirus patient to treat another critical patient.

This helps the infected person to develop antibodies needed against the COVID 19 virus. The antibodies when tranferred start fighting against conronavirus.

How plasma is donated?
Donating plasma is similar to donating blood and takes the same amount of time. Plasma donors are hooked upto a small device, which removes plasma and returns the red blood cells to their bodies simultaneously. Plasma can be donated more frequently as compared to blood. It can be donated two-three times a week.
Plasma from one person can be used in recovering two infected persons.
Right now, ICMR does not recommend using plasma therapy as a treatment option but only for the purpose of clinical trials.
Several other countries have also started plasma therapy trials inclduing United Kingdom and United States.


Whats the RISKS INVOLVED in plasma Therapy?

Besides speaking about the success of the convalescent plasma therapy, the study by John Hopkins immunologists stated some of the risks associated with it:

1. Transfer of blood substances: As the blood transfusion takes place, there are risks that an inadvertent infection might get transferred to the patient.

2. Enhancement of infection: The therapy might fail for some patients and can result in an enhanced form of the infection.

3. Effect on immune system: The antibody administration may end up suppressing the body's natural immune response, leaving a Covid-19 patient vulnerable to subsequent re-infection.


Plasma Therapy not used 1st time:


This is not the first time convalescent plasma therapy is being considered as a treatment for viral infections.

1. In 2014, the World Health Organisation (WHO) had recommended the use of convalescent plasma therapy to treat patients with the antibody-rich plasma of those who had recovered from the Ebola virus disease.

2. For the treatment of people infected with Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), which is also caused by a coronavirus, a protocol for use of convalescent plasma was established in 2015.

3. During the 1918 H1N1 influenza virus (Spanish flu) pandemic, the therapy was used experimentally.

4. The plasma therapy was used as a treatment during the H1N1 infection of 2009.


PLASMA THERAPY AND COVID-19

These studies have sparked a ray of hope. However, researchers caution that it's too early to think of plasma therapy as an effective treatment. For example, the sample sizes in the Covid-19 plasma therapy trials are too small to arrive at definite conclusions.

Plasma therapy's potential as treatment for Covid-19 has already been explored in limited trial in China, where the outbreak first emerged. In one trial, 10 critically-ill Covid-19 patients were subject to convalescent plasma therapy. The trial showed some improvement in patients' condition.

"No severe adverse effects were observed. This study showed CP [convalescent plasma] therapy was well tolerated and could potentially improve the clinical outcomes through neutralizing viremia [the presence of viruses in the blood] in severe Covid-19 cases," the researchers who conducted the trial said.