What is Convalescent Plasma Therapy and how effective is it for Covid-19?

Team Udayavani, Sep 5, 2020, 11:25 AM IST

Amid Covid-19, scientists are racing to develop antidotes and are exploring various avenues to come up with medical treatments

One such treatment which is in focus right now is Convalescent Plasma Therapy. On March 28, Houston Methodist became the first academic medical centre in the United States to infuse critically ill Covid-19 patients with plasma donated from recovered patients.

The convalescent plasma therapy aims at using antibodies from the blood of a recovered Covid-19 patient to treat those critically affected by the virus.

The concept of the therapy 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.

Once the patient has recovered, they donate their blood so that their antibodies can be used to treat other patients. If deemed safe, the blood is then taken through a process to extract ‘plasma’, the liquid part of the blood that contains antibodies.

For patients in a moderate or early phase, the plasma from recovered patients can be used in newly infected patients who do not have antibodies to fight the illness.

When given, this antibody will circulate in the blood, reach tissues, and provide protection against infection.

It is said that those treated early with plasma that has the highest concentration of anti-Covid-19 antibodies and are more likely to recover