COVID-19: Kerala all set to conduct plasma therapy
- by Virginia Carter
- in World Media
- — Apr 10, 2020
The convalescent plasma (CP) therapy was conducted on 10 adult patients with severe COVID-19, aged 34-78 years.
Plasma products will be collected through an apheresis technology which separates the blood components and will be provided to hospitals in the Coastal Bend community.
By using blood donated from those who have recovered from the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19, the FDA hopes to find antibody-rich products that could be administered to those now fighting the disease.
Any survivors should visit Vitalant's website. In the near future, it may be possible to evaluate people who may have had COVID-19 but were unable to get a test. These antibodies may help patients seriously ill with COVID-19 in their recovery. "Now I realize since I'm on the other side of this and I was one of the early patients and probably one of the first people in Florida, one of the first in the nation to donate plasma".
In the treatment, known as convalescent plasma, the patient is transfused with the donor's plasma with the goal of using the donor's antibodies to help clear the virus more rapidly. The National Convalescent Plasma Project COVID-19 was in charge of determining the patients who would need convalescent plasma. Our news sources have reported that this is not the first time when convalescent plasma therapy will be used as the treatment option.
Must provide a negative lab test result.
"If the person who has recovered gives consent, we can test for antibody levels", Dr Anoop Kumar, part of medical expert panel set up to advice Chief Minister and a critical care doctor at Baby Memorial Hospital, told NDTV.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the U.S. approved the use of CT therapy as an experimental treatment in clinical trials, and for critical patients without other options.
In the last few months, researchers in several peer-reviewed scientific journals have said the CP therapy could used as a treatment for Covid-19 patients without the occurrence of severe adverse events among them. "And that is important, because we can identify those donors with a large number of antibodies that would probably benefit the patients who receive this plasma".
The FDA is not approving using plasma as a treatment, instead using it as a clinical trial and for the treatment of those who are critically ill.
