COVID-19 treatment with blood plasma of recovered patients 'safe and beneficial': Study

While the deadly coronavirus continues to spread across the globe, a recent study suggested that treating COVID-19 patients with transfusion of blood plasma from those who already recovered is safe and beneficial. According to the new study published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings, the research was conducted on over 20,000 hospitalised coronavirus patients. It was also based in a century-old idea in medicine that had been used against measles, influenza and Ebola. 

The researchers at Mayo Clinic found that people who recover from the deadly infection have ‘virus-fighting antibodies’ floating in their blood and the transfusion of their plasma may give recipients’ immune systems assistance in fighting off the virus. The treatment, known as convalescent plasma, is still an experimental treatment, however, it has been reportedly deployed in the early weeks of the pandemic through a grass-roots effort by physicians. 

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According to an international media outlet, the treatment has also drawn more than 2,000 medical institutions into a collaborative effort to work out the logistics of collecting and deploying the plasma of the recovered COVID-19 patients. Michael Joyner, an anesthesiologist at the Mayo Clinic who led the study, reportedly said that the actionable message is that it is ‘safe, inexpensive’. Joyner also said that the mortality rate in sick patients is also quite low. 

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Joyner calls it ‘chicken and egg’ situation 

Joyner, in the published study, also acknowledged that there is still a ‘chicken and egg’ conundrum in trying to conclusively determine the effectiveness of the treatment. He noted that the COVID-19 patients were given the treatment through an expanded access program created by the FDA. Furthermore, he also pointed out that the recent data, however, show the convalescent plasma treatment to be beneficial. 

According to the study, among the first 5,000 patients who received a plasma transfusion, the death rate in the week after the treatment was 12 per cent. The researchers also noted that the first group of patients received transfusion at a time when plasma was often in short supply and was administered to patients late in their illness. While there is no comparative study, scientists believe that the death rate may have dropped because of the plasma treatment, which became widely available. 

(Image: AP) 

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