PUNE: A 55-year-old man with a severe form of blood cancer received
blood stem cells from his son with active nCoV infection in June and has remained Covid-free for six months now.
Doctors associated with the
acute myeloid leukaemia patient’s treatment at Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital said this was the
first bone marrow transplant in the country despite knowing the donor’s Covid-positive status.
Centre advises 28-day gap for blood donation
Thailand had reported a similar case of
bone marrow transplant in April and the recipient has so far remained Covid-19 free.
A doctor said the Pune case signified that Covid did not seem to be transmitted through blood even if the donor was actively infected. Haematologists, however, say this does not mean that infected persons should donate blood.
Scientists studying the virus advise against blood donation from infected patients as a precaution. The latest Union government guidelines stipulate that blood can be collected from a person who has tested positive and recovered from Covid-19 only after 28 days of discharge from a treating facility or the equal number of after home isolation ends.
Experts said the Pune case also ruled out the threat of blood transfusion-transmission route, as many asymptomatic Covid-19 carriers might also donate blood. “The patient was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia in January. An emergency bone marrow transplant is what he urgently needed,” said the hospital’s haematologist, Sameer Melinkeri. His son (22) was found to be a fit donor but he tested positive for Covid-19 a day before the transplant. The patient was tested the same day and was found Covid negative.
His marrow had been destroyed drastically with a high dose of
chemotherapy. If the donor’s cells were not infused immediately, he would have died due to complications. “We had no choice but to use the donor’s cells,” said Melinkeri.
Post-transplant, he was monitored for symptoms and tested for Covid. But he didn’t develop infection and recovered well.