What is Plasma Therapy treatment for the COVID-19

sponsored links

For the past few days you might be reading in news papers or watching in TV channels about Plasma therapy is showing positive results on Covid 19 patients. After China and the US, recently India has given a go ahead for framing a protocol to conduct a clinical trial for convalescent plasma therapy. Recently 4 COVID-19 patients had plasma therapy treatment in Delhi's Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital in the last few weeks. The initial results are positive and encouraging. The therapy has been used experimentally in the past and so has become a ray of hope in the fight against the novel coronavirus pandemic. Now let's see what's this Plasma Therapy is, along with the pros and cons of this therapy as it is going to be one of the most important topics to be covered in our upcoming competitive exams.

About Plasma Therapy

The Plasma Therapy is an experimental procedure for COVID-19 patients. For plasma therapy, doctors need plasma from COVID-19 patients who have already recovered. The blood of a person who has recovered from COVID-19 develops antibodies to battle against the virus. This therapy uses antibodies from the blood of a cured coronavirus patient to treat another critical patient. The idea behind this therapy is that immunity can be transferred from a healthy person to a sick patient using convalescent plasma. Once the blood plasma of the recovered patient is infused with that of the second patient, the antibodies start fighting against coronavirus in the second person's body. The process of donating plasma is similar to that of donating blood and takes about an hour.

Recent Developments on Plasma Therapy in India

• The King George Medical University, Uttar Pradesh has become the 1st government hospital in India to successfully launch the plasma therapy treatment for the COVID-19 patients. A 58-year-old doctor became the first coronavirus patient at the King George Medical University (KGMU), Lucknow to receive plasma therapy as an experimental treatment for the disease.
• The Centre permitted few states to perform plasma therapy on limited number of COVID-19 patients. Kerala, Gujarat, Punjab also started using plasma therapy to cure COVID-19 patients.
• Delhi government is planning to ask Centre to allow plasma treatment on all critical patients in the state.

sponsored links