Plasma Therapy: A Possible Answer To COVID-19?

While the world suffers the outbreak for the past 4 months, medical researchers are racing to set up clinical trials to test some of the previously known treatments like convalescent-plasma Therapy, as a vaccine will take at least a year or two to rescue the sufferers. 

Medical research body of India, ICMR has recently given approval to Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST) to test the success of Plasma therapy after the body announced the official procedure to the trial treating COVID-19 patients. ICMR has also invited other institutes and research laboratories to set up clinical trials testing the effectiveness of plasma therapy against the coronavirus. 

How does therapy work? 

Predating vaccines and antibiotics, the use of blood products of a disease recovered individual is an age-old approach. A passive antibody therapy, Convalescent plasma is a type of passive immunity. It can only be provided by a survivor of the disease. As a defence mechanism, the human body creates antibodies, a protein to fight off the virus. The similar can be used to treat the severe cases of Covid-19. The antibody-containing plasma can be injected to the diseased individual providing immediate antibodies. But the proteins will last only for a short amount of time, weeks to possibly a few months.  

Simplifying it, SCTIMST and Ministry of Science and Technology said, “The treatment aims at using immune power gained by a recovered person to treat a sick person.” 

"It is being looked at as an option to treat the patients of COVID-19. If a corona-virus positive patient recovers, then he recovers by his body fighting the infection. To fight the infection, the body produces antibodies that stay in the blood," Dr Randeep Guleria, Delhi AIIMS, Director. 

“This seems like ancient history, but maybe it isn’t. There have been niche uses of it for a while,” said Michael Joyner, a physiologist at the Mayo Clinic who is working on FDA approved therapies along with researchers at Johns Hopkins University, to an English daily. 

“Before we had vaccines, this was used for infectious diseases like measles and diphtheria,” said an Associate Professor at Washington University School of Medicine, Dr Jeffrey Henderson. “Historically, this has worked. Convalescent plasma was also successfully used during the 1918 flu pandemic,” He added. 

On how it would work? “The truth is, it’s far too early,” James Musser, chair of Pathology and Genome Medicine, Johns Hopkins University says. “We, nationally, need to do controlled trials and understand, first and foremost, is this a safe therapeutic? There are lots of reasons to think it will be, but you never know.” 

Also, the medical professionals highlighted other concerns like dosage which is uncertain for Covid-19 patients, but it is worth trying until an effective treatment is developed. 

Lockdown Extension 

Meanwhile, PM Narendra Modi has announced the extension of lock-down till May 3rd. To this, WHO appreciated India’s timely and tough actions to stop the spread of the virus. The rise of Covid-19 infected individuals might make it difficult to talk about the results in numbers. “But a six-week nationwide lock-down coupled with public health measures such as tracing contact of Covid-19 positive people, would go a long way in arresting the virus,” said Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director, WHO-SEARO. In these testing times, the action lies as much with the communities as with the authorities and the health workforce. “Despite huge and multiple challenges, India has been demonstrating unwavering commitment in its fight against the pandemic,” she added.