They call on donors in the face of high demand for hyperimmune plasma

Madeleyne Aguilar A. / La Paz

Due to the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in Bolivia, the demand for hyperimmune plasma increases. The treatment, which is still experimental, has given good results, according to specialists. Donating can save lives.

Haematologist Libertad Garca, head of the transfusion unit at Hospital La Portada, once again called on the population that has overcome the disease to donate plasma.

He explained that the blood bank in La Paz and in each department of the country has a reserve of plasma of all types of blood, which was collected during the months in which the cases of coronavirus fell. However, in this last week it has been running out.

Cases are rising. The head of the Blood Bank told me that donors are needed again because so many units of plasma are coming out very quickly. We have a reserve, but we need more donations, voluntary and altruistic so that we can have the plasma immediately, he said.

July and August 2020 saw the highest peak of the pandemic. Many times the patient was admitted with the indication to receive plasma, but we could not find a donor, or plasma. The patient worsened and died, even before receiving it, says Garca, who fears that this scenario will be repeated in the second wave.

All departments have a blood bank, which is usually in general hospitals. In the case of La Paz, he is in the Hospital de Clnicas.

Units are stored at these points and are released according to requirements. They not only benefit patients from the public sector, but also from the private and social security sectors.

La Portada municipal hospital was the first to use hyperimmune plasma for Covid-19 patients in Bolivia.

Hyperimmune plasma treatment is not only for the coronavirus. Already in the previous century it has been used and is an alternative for patients with a viral etiology. Let us not forget that in the historical history, this serum from patients has been used to pass pathologies such as poliomyelitis, measles, mumps and hemorrhagic fever. It’s nothing new, explained La Portada’s director, Dr. Liliana Gonzales.

It is that municipal hospital, and in all those who use hyperimmune plasma transfusion, they have inclusion and exclusion criteria to perform the procedure. With these, it is determined what type of patients can be transfused and who can be the donors.

The donor must have crossed the coronavirus, present a positive and negative PCR test after 14 days of medical discharge. You must be over 18 years of age and weigh more than 50 kilos. Medical examinations are carried out in the blood banks of each department to determine the characteristics of the plasma.

It is preferred that the donor is male, because women develop antibodies in pregnancies. In case the donor is a woman, she must be non-pregnant or have had a maximum of one pregnancy.

For La Paz, all plasma donations are made at the departmental blood bank, located within the Hospital de Clnicas, at the Hospital de Trax (Miraflores hospital complex). There the quantification of neutralizing bodies against Covid-19 is carried out. This is how it is determined if that plasma has a high concentration to benefit the patient who receives it.

Questions about the effects

There are questions about the use of hyperimmune plasma in coronavirus patients, since in some it has caused adverse effects. However, the experience of the hospitals that used it as an adjunct is positive.

(Treatment with) hyperimmune plasma has not been scientifically proven. They were doing studies. The latest reports indicated that with or without plasma mortality is not infected and putting plasma on brings other complications, said intensivist physician Adrin Vila, former president of the Bolivian Association of Critical Medicine.

He explained that, for example, plasma was seen to complicate the lungs with an inflammatory reaction. Also, it could affect the heart by causing a volume overload.

Many people have died despite receiving the plasma. I, for example, (when I had Covid-19) have not received anything. There is nothing indicated in this disease. All you have to do is strengthen your immune system, the doctor explained.

In this regard, the haematologist Libertad García remarked that transfusion is not a therapeutic alternative, but rather an adjunct. I support the donation of plasma because we are offering another possibility to patients, taking into account that we do not have full access to monoclonal or antiviral antibodies, he said.

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