[ad_1]
Kerala will become the first state to start convalescent plasma therapy to treat critical cases of COVID-19
Aerial photo
Kerala will become the first state in the country to begin convalescent plasma therapy, to treat critical cases of COVID-19 on a trial basis.
The Indian Council of Medical Research has given Kerala its go-ahead for the first such project, for the clinical protocol exploring the feasibility of an experimental therapy, convalescent plasma transfusion, which can be administered to critically ill patients with COVID-19 . In this therapy, the blood plasma of individuals who have recovered from COVID-19, that is, their immune system that has developed antibodies in the blood plasma to overcome the disease, is transfused into a seriously ill person. The project is started by the Sree Chithira Thirunal Institute of Medical Sciences and Technology in Thiruvananthapuram.
Convalescent plasma therapy is not new today, and doctors have used it to treat critically ill patients during past epidemics such as H1N1, SARS, and Ebola. The expert committee guiding state containment and mitigation strategies against COVID-19 recommended exploring plasma therapy following the report published in the Journal of the American Medical Association of a pilot study by doctors in China.
Although Kerala is successful in flattening the COVID-19 curve with more recoveries and fewer cases, if the convalescent plasma therapy clinical trial is successful, it will surely be a major step forward in its fight against COVID-19.
