Convalescent Blood Plasma Does Not Help Many Covid-19 Patients

Convalescent plasma from survivors is expected to help cure Covid-19 patients.

REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA – Convalescent blood plasma which is expected to be one of the drug candidates Covid-19 does little to help the patient recover from the contagious disease. Results of clinical trials in India which have been published in BMJ British Medical Journal, Friday, also shows convalescent plasma cannot reduce the death rate of Covid-19 patients.

Convalescent plasma, which contains antibody from recovered patients, it is given to Covid-19 patients as one of the treatment options. The findings were obtained from a clinical trial that was followed by more than 400 Covid-19 patients who were hospitalized.

The results of this clinical trial also showed a decline in efforts to find a cure for Covid-19, even though US President Donald Trump, in August 2020, called convalescent plasma a “historic breakthrough”. Health authorities in the United States and India have permitted the use of convalescent plasma for emergency purposes.

Meanwhile, other countries, including Indonesia, are still encouraging recovered patients to donate their blood plasma so that – if later proven effective – Covid-19 patients can immediately use the drug.

“Clinical trial results … show blood plasma “It only has a slight impact on the patient considering (the immune system, ed) the patient can fight the virus, but (blood plasma, red) this cannot help the patient to recover after contracting the infectious disease,” said molecular biologist from the University of Reading, Simon Clarke.

“In short, there is no clinical benefit for the patient (after being given conventional blood plasma),” he said.

The clinical trial in India was attended by 464 adult Covid-19 patients with moderate symptoms and they were all hospitalized between April and July 2020. The clinical trial participants were then divided into two groups, those who received two blood plasma transfusions. and those who don’t.

Seven days after the transfusion, those who received convalescent plasma showed improvement in some symptoms, such as shortness of breath and fatigue, according to some researchers. His condition leads to an increase in what is known as “negative conversion,” a sign that antibodies are working against the virus.

However, these results do not necessarily indicate that blood plasma can reduce mortality rates. Blood plasma was also unable to improve the condition of a patient with severe disease symptoms within 28 days.

“Convalescent plasma performance in these clinical trials was disappointing, but not so surprising,” said University of Reading professor of virology, Ian Jones.

Furthermore, Jones said, blood plasma may have more efficacy if it is given directly to a patient shortly after he is confirmed positive for Covid-19. Jones also encouraged other researchers to continue clinical trials of convalescent plasma as one of the potential Covid-19 drugs. However, he suggested that further research should involve Covid-19 patients who have just been diagnosed with Covid-19.

“We do not have a drug that can prevent the patient’s condition from worsening, and until this has become one of the options (treatment, ed), the important message is that we must keep trying not to catch the virus,” he said.

source: Antara, Reuters

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