Plasma therapy is the most talked about treatment plan against COVID19 these days, but doctors have cautioned saying it may not be successful in all patients.
“In absence of a specific antiviral drug and vaccine againstCOVID19, scientists are working round the clock to combat the virus.Convalescent plasma therapy is one such treatment modality that scientists arefocusing on. A few states in India have also started to work on this treatmentmodality,” said Dr Javaid Malik, Professor and Head, Chest Medicine, SKIMSMedical College Bemina.
He said in plasma therapy, antibody (Immunoglobulin) richplasma was withdrawn from patients who have recovered from COVID19 infectionand infused into critically ill infected patients.
“These highly specific antibodies are thus passivelyacquired and neutralise the coronavirus in the recipient host and can giveprotection for some time,” he said.
However, Dr Malik said, plasma therapy may not be successfulin all the patients. “Convalescent plasma therapy is a ray of hope but shouldnot be considered as a magic bullet for coronavirus. And there is no scope forlowering the guard on preventive strategies like social distancing, handhygiene practices and cough and sneezing etiquettes,” he said.
Dr Malik said plasma therapy was not a new discovery. “Evenin Spanish flu of 1918 plasma therapy was used. For other viral epidemics likeSARS in 2002, H1N1 in 2009, MERS in 2012 plasma therapy has been used as atreatment option with some positive outcomes,” he said.
According to him convalescent plasma therapy in COVID19patients was primarily recommended for those with severe disease includingrespiratory failure cases.
“Plasma therapy works on the principle of transferringimmunity from a recently fully recovered COVID19 patient to another sickpatient. Convalescent plasma therapy is an experimental therapy and anyinstitution going ahead with this treatment modality should take ICMR (Indiancouncil of medical research) on board,” he said.
He said plasma therapy donors have to be symptom-free for 28days and have to be COVID negative twice by RT-PCR before they become eligiblefor donation. “These donors are also screened for other conditions like HIV,Hepatitis B and C viruses as a part of routine hospital protocol beforedonation,” he said.
“Procedure is similar to blood donation and does not carryany risks. Plasma can be donated more frequently than whole blood and more thanone patient may be benefited by a single plasma donation.
“It is important to mention that that there are a set ofcriteria that both donor and recipient of convalescent plasma therapy have tofulfil before they become eligible to enter into the study so that we get aclear picture of benefits and adverse effects of this therapy as the Covid 19pandemic advances. In my opinion till we get a final Covid19 specific antiviraldrug or a vaccine effective against coronavirus we should continue to explorethe existing treatment options including plasma therapy so as to maximizepatient benefit,” Dr Malik opined.