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Thursday | 16 January 2025 | Epaper

Plasma therapy is still a hope

Published : Saturday, 17 April, 2021 at 12:00 AM  Count : 656
Md Zillur Rahaman
The number of C-19 patient and deaths from the virus is constantly increasing. A number of vaccines have already been introduced against the deadly virus, but many people have reportedly become infected after receiving the vaccine.  The question of how effective a vaccine is still lingering in the minds of many. However, any of the invented vaccines are not working at all if the patient is infected. As a result, doctors are now relying on Convulsive Plasma Therapy (CPT) to save the lives of critically ill patients.

COVID-19 was first identified in China in December 2019 as a respiratory disease. It starts with fever and is followed by dry cough. After a week it leads to shortness of breath and some patients need hospital treatment. Recent studies have identified thousands of types of corona and it is constantly changing its form and nature.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has approved a number of vaccines on an emergency basis to combat the COVID-19 epidemic. Notable among these vaccines are the jointly developed vaccines by Pfizer and Moderna, a pharmaceutical company in the USA, and AstraZeneca, a pharmaceutical company, Oxford University, UK in December 2020. The WHO authorized the emergency application of the Pfizer Bioentech vaccine.
In addition, a review by the WHO states that the Oxford vaccine has all the standards required for safety and that the benefits outweigh the risks of taking it. The vaccines have been approved based on the recommendations of an internal panel of the WHO. It is recommended that two doses be administered to all adults at intervals of 6 to 12 weeks. The vaccines can also be used against the corona variant found in South Africa.

But any of the invented vaccines are not working at all if the patient is infected. That is why in many countries around the world attempts to treat infected patients using different methods is being continued. Physicians have found early success in treating corona using a similar method. In medical terms, this procedure is called plasma therapy. Plasma is the aqueous component of blood. People who have had corona and have recovered have corona antibodies in their bodies or proteins in their blood that make them immune to the virus. The plasma method means collecting plasma from the blood of those individuals and giving it to the body of the corona infected. Thus it creates antibodies in the patient's body.

Plasma is the fluid part of the blood that remains after all red and white blood cells and platelets have been removed. In CPT, plasma collected from recovered patients is currently used in the body of infected patients. In fact, plasma contains many essential proteins, blood clotting factors, and immunoglobulins, which we call antibodies. The treatment that is given intravenously to another person infected with the same plasma virus is called CPT. Because this plasma contains antibody-resistant antibodies and is collected from the body of a recovered patient to treat another infected person, it is also called 'passive antibody therapy'.
However, it is important to keep in mind that none of the vaccines approved by the WHO for the treatment of COVID-19 are free from suspicion. Nothing very promising has been found so far from plasma therapy trials. April 25, 2020 Clinical trials of CPT for the treatment of COVID-19 patients were approved by the UK Government and the FDA of the USA approved the CPT on April 4, 2020.

CPT is not a completely new medical procedure. This medical system was introduced in the eighteenth century and it was first introduced in 1880. German physiologist Emile von Behring first introduced the idea of using plasma as a therapy. He won the first Nobel Prize in Physiology in 1901 for using plasma serum therapy against diphtheria and this plasma was later used in the treatment of scarlet fever in 1920.

Until 1970, the treatment of whooping cough was given through plasma therapy. This CPT was used as one of the medical procedures during the Spanish flu pandemic in 1918. Plasma therapy is also given for the treatment of measles, mumps, influenza and chicken pox. Although the results were of a mixed nature, CPT is by far the oldest treatment to fight COVID-19, most recently in 2003 with SARS, in 2009 with bird flu, in 2012 with Mars coronavirus, and most recently in 2013 with Ebola virus.

Anyone who has recovered from a COVID-19 infection can be a potential plasma donor. Before donating plasma, it is important to make sure that the body has produced enough antibodies and for this antibody titer is tested. According to the policy of our country, 1: 160 titer is considered suitable for plasma therapy. Other conditions of blood circulation such as the presence of blood borne diseases (syphilis, malaria, hepatitis, HIV, etc), plasma donor weight, blood pressure, pregnancy, etc are to be considered.

It is possible to take 400 to 500 ml of plasma from a donor's body at a time. It is possible to take only plasma without taking whole blood from the donor's body in a special process through apheresis device. Up to three units (200 ml per unit) of plasma can be made from one donor's plasma. If the donor wants, he can give plasma again in the next week. After donating plasma, drinking three liters of water in 24 hours fills the gap. So there is no reason for the donor to be afraid.

A national subcommittee on plasma treatment was formed in Bangladesh under the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) in early April 2020, and on 27 April the Dhaka Medical College Hospital authorities decided to use CPT in the treatment of corona patients. In this case, DGHS has been directed to supervise other hospitals across the country. This therapy has been successful in many countries of the world and it has also been experimentally successful in our country. However, it is very important to formulate and approve a sound plasma policy for its successful implementation and use.

However, no such risk has been found in plasma therapy and the risks are involved in transfusing blood or blood components also apply here. Doctors say that in this case, there is no reason to be afraid to come forward in donor plasma donation. The more plasma available from donors, the easier it will be to deal with COVID-19 using CPT, and the brighter the hope of treating COVID-19 will be found.
The writer is a banker and freelance contributor








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