India Starts Testing Plasma Therapy to Treat COVID-19
India has started clinical trials for treatment against COVID-19. Watch our latest video for all the details.
The dangerous corona virus has infected over 20 lakh people all around the world. Scientists and doctors are doing a lot of research and exploring medicines, vaccines and other treatments for treatment of covid-19 patients. Still no treatment is available. One such new treatment which is being tried is Plasma Therapy. It is a new experimental therapy to treat Covid-19 patients. In this treatment, plasma from a COVID-19 patient who has recovered from the disease, is transfused into a coronavirus patient who is in critical condition. A person who recovered from COVID-19, has some antibodies in the blood that helped to fight the infection. These antibodies are present in the plasma.Once the blood plasma of the first patient is infused in another serious patient suffering from COVID-19, those antibodies will start fighting against coronavirus in the second person.
Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has recently allowed states to start clinical trials of plasma therapy. Nearly 100 institutes have shown interest to study if plasma therapy is safe and efficient in treating covid-19 patients. A doctor in Kerala said that the transfusion process is not as easy. Separation of plasma from blood is required with the help of different machines. The kit which is required to check the antibody levels in the person is not available in India and is imported from Germany. Kerala, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Punjab have already started testing Plasma Therapy.
Plasma Therapy was also used to treat Spanish Flu in 1918 and to treat H1N1 infection in 2009. In 2014, the World Health Organization (WHO) had recommended Plasma Therapy to treat Ebola virus disease. The plasma from one recovered person can help two people. China, UK and the USA have also started testing Plasma Therapy to cure COVID-19 .
A 49 year old male was the first patient who was administered plasma therapy in the Max Hospital, Delhi. He has shown positive results. Hope this is a way forward and we are able to get some positive treatment for the Covid -19 infection.
