South Korea is one of the nation that has effectively Controlled the active Corona virus cases and astoundingly done with 70% curing rate from the Corona virus affected patients.
South Korean Doctors research team led by Professor Choi Jun-yong of Severance Hospital’s Infectious Disease Division said the transfusing of plasma from recovered COVID-19 patients to two serious COVID-19 patients improved their symptoms. The two patients fully recovered and one of them was discharged, the hospital said.
[splco_youtube url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47IOaG2oUQQ” title=”South Korean researchers prove effectiveness of blood plasma treatment on COVID-19 patients”]
The nation’s first report of the use of plasma therapy for COVID-19 was published in the latest issue of the Journal of Korean Medical Science, under the title “Use of Convalescent Plasma Therapy in Two COVID-19 Patients with Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome in Korea.”
Emulating South Korean model Kerala is set to become the first state in the country to commence convalescent plasma therapy, which uses antibodies from the blood of cured patients, to treat critically ill COVID-19 cases on a trial basis.
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has given its nod to the state government for the first of its kind project, initiated by the prestigious Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST), a top official said.
SCTIMST, an Institution of National Importance under the Union Department of Science and Technology, is expecting to start the trials by this month end once the required approvals from the Drugs Controller of India and the Ethics committee are received.
Kerala Communist Party Cheif Minister Pranay Vijayan
“We have received the approval from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) to conduct it as a clinical trial”, Director of the city-based institute Dr Asha Kishore told .
“This is a form of convalescent plasma therapy. The technique is to use (blood) plasma of patients who have completely recovered from COVID-19 as it will be rich in antibodies”, she said.
In COVID-19, some case studies have been done in China and South Korea where they had tried this treatment method taking the plasma of a patient who is cured and whose blood contains lot of antibodies to fight the virus, she said.
Their plasma is collected and infused into COVID-19 patients who are critically ill and whose immune system cannot fight the virus.
[splco_quote]”We do not have strong evidence that it works. So it will be tested in the form of a clinical trial to see whether it will work or not”, the Director said adding they were trying to get Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds for the project, which is estimated to cost Rs 25 lakh. [/splco_quote]
The project has been approved by the state government and five medical colleges at Thiruvananthapuram, Alapuzha, Ernakulam, Thrissur and Kannur and an expert form COVID clinic in Kozhikode, Dr Anoop, who will do the clinical follow up, will be participating in it.
“We will monitor the “Plasma Pheresis” a technique of collecting the blood of patients and separating the plasma from blood cells. SCTIMST is awaiting the approval of Drugs Controller of India (DCI) for this kind of blood donation as the stringent criteria of regular blood donation will have to be relaxed for this exceptional situation,” she said.
Once the DCI approval was received, the ethics committee will be approached to give its nod, Asha said.
“We are collaborating with state hospitals, COVID cell and the institute’s transfusion medicine department.So we will together conduct the study when we get approvals”, she added .
This has to be a voluntary donation from the patients who have recovered from the disease.
[splco_quote]”Their swab sample has to be clear 3 times before they are called clear and they have to wait for two weeks quarantine to be over only after which their blood will be collected for “plasma pheresis” process, the director explained.[/splco_quote]
The plasma can be collected, stored and kept and given whenever a critically ill patient does not respond to anything else, she added .
