Coronavirus and plasma therapy

Convulsive plasma therapy is being experimentally applied in the treatment of critically ill, or dying patients with coronavirus disease, in different countries of the world. Very strong evidence of its effectiveness has not yet been found. However, initially, the success of such treatment is being reported. Plasma therapy is not a new treatment. Even before this, plasma therapy has played a significant role in the treatment of various viral diseases including SARS, Mars, and Ebola. Plasma therapy involves collecting blood from a healthy person who has recovered from the coronavirus. From there the blood cells are separated, and the plasma or plasma that is found is applied to another coronavirus patient. Through this, specific antibodies made in the body of a person who has recovered from the coronavirus will control the virus infecting another person's body. That is what the doctors expect. So this treatment is being tested.

No effective vaccine to control coronavirus has been launched so far. There are no adequate ventilators for the treatment of critically ill patients, no specific and effective antidote, and even experimental drugs are beyond the reach of the majority of people. In this case, after completing the test of plasma therapy, the death rate from coronavirus can be greatly reduced if applied at a large rate.

What is needed for the successful and safe application of plasma therapy?

There is very little discussion about this in the newspapers. In the light of a review article published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation last month by the experts from some of the world's leading hospitals, including the Johns Hopkins and Mayo Clinic, I am highlighting some important issues regarding plasma therapy. First, plasma therapy is only for critically ill patients. People with shortness of breath, pneumonia, or water retention in the lungs. Or death patients, who have respiratory failure, are at the risk of septic shock or multi-organ failure, only need to apply this method.

Some things need to be confirmed before choosing a blood donor for plasma therapy. , E.g., whether blood donor coronavirus infection has been confirmed; Whether the blood donor's disease has been completely cured at least 14 days ago; Whether the blood donor is completely healthy at the time of blood donation; At this time the donor should check the respiratory sample or blood to make sure that the result is negativing. In addition, coronavirus antibodies must be tested in a donor's blood for ELISA tests to determine if the titer is at least 320 or higher. Also, blood donor screening should be done to make sure that the patient does not have the presence of HIV or Hepatitis B and C virus. If these are correct, 400 to 600 ml of plasma can be collected directly from the blood donor through the machine. Or by collecting the same amount of blood, plasma can be collected from the blood very easily in the laboratory. The advantage is the collected plasma can be stored in a deep freezer at a temperature of minus 30 degrees and can be used as needed.

The steps above are important. This is because any known or unknown disease lurking in the blood donor's body should not enter the patient's body. And it is very important to measure the level of antibodies in the blood of the donor. Because if there are not enough antibodies, the effectiveness of this treatment will be completely affected. Ideally, the best neutralization test needed to measure these antibodies. In this test, the patient's body serum is tested in the lab with the virus culture to see if the patient's body antibodies can inactivate the virus. But this test is a matter of great difficulty and time. This requires a BSL-3 facility for virus culture. This facility is missing in many countries of the world. As an alternative, it is important to test at least one good quality ELISA antibody. The more antibodies available in the blood donor's body, the more effective it will be.

Side effects of plasma therapy are rare but not zero. So this treatment should be given only to those who need it. Plasma therapy has many possibilities if applied properly. The world will benefit a lot if the voluntary blood donor organizations come forward in need of this. Healthy people recovering from coronavirus can come forward to save the lives of critically ill, or dying patients at this critical juncture of the world. To this end, it is necessary to start a voluntary blood donation program as soon as possible. Remember, donating blood for plasma therapy is not usually different from donating blood. There is no risk in this. Eligible to donate blood, recover from coronavirus, any healthy person can save precious lives.