Scientists and researchers are exploring various avenues to come up with medical treatments that can fight the novel coronavirus. One treatment that’s in focus right now is Convalescent Plasma Therapy. Media has been abuzz with the efficacy of plasma therapy which aims at using antibodies from the blood of a recovered Covid-19 patient to treat those critically affected by the virus. The therapy can also be used to immunize those at high risk of contracting the virus such as health workers, families of patients and other high-risk contacts.
Medical experts from AIIMS and other health institutions say this therapy’s concept is simple and is based on the premise that the blood of a patient who has recovered from Covid-19 contains antibodies with the specific ability of fighting novel coronavirus. The theory is that the recovered patient’s antibodies, once ingested into somebody under treatment, will begin targeting and fighting the novel coronavirus in the second patient. Hence plasma therapy is akin to passive immunization as, according to researchers, it is a preventive measure and not a treatment for the Covid-19 disease.
The antibodies are highly specific to the invading pathogen and so, work to eliminate the novel coronavirus from the patient’s body. Once the patient has recovered, they donate their blood so that their antibodies can be used to treat other patients. The donated blood is checked for the presence of any other disease-causing agents such as Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, and HIV etc. If the blood is free of the above pathogens it is then taken through a process to extract ‘plasma’, the liquid part of the blood that contains antibodies. The antibody-rich plasma, once extracted, is then ingested into the body of a patient under treatment.
Arturo Casadevall, immunologist at the John Hopkins University who is spearheading a project to use the therapy, says that the concept is simple. Patients who recover from an infectious disease often produce antibodies that can protect against later infections with the same microbe. This immunity can be transferred by giving serum to those at risk of infection. In the absence of any known treatment against Covid19, Plasma therapy seems like a life-saver provided the patients who have recovered from the disease are willing to undergo the difficulties of blood being taken from their bodies.
Kerala was the first state to use plasma therapy. Now the states of Maharashtra, Delhi, Gujarat, Punjab, Karnataka and Telangana are following suit and will be using plasma therapy to treat Covid19 patients.