What is Plasma?

It is a light yellow liquid, which is an integral and essential part of your blood. You may never have thought about Plasma while talking about blood. Red Blood Cells and Platelets are more commonly used terms by the public. But the fact is that Plasma is the largest part of your blood. More than half of your blood (about 55%) is Plasma.

Why is Plasma important?

Plasma has so many uses and health benefits that some health organizations call it “the gift of life.” Here’s why:

• Plasma carries all parts of your blood through your circulatory system. It also transports hormones, proteins, other nutrients, water, salts, and enzymes to different parts of your body.
• Cells also discard their waste products into the Plasma. Thus, Plasma also helps remove this waste from the body.
• Plasma also contains vital components, including antibodies, clotting factors, and the albumin & fibrinogen proteins. All these parts of Plasma can be separated and concentrated into various products. These products are helpful in treatments of shock, trauma, burns, and other medical emergencies.
• The proteins and antibodies in Plasma are helpful in the treatment of several chronic conditions. These include hemophilia and autoimmune disorders. People with these conditions can live longer and more productive lives because of these treatments.

What is Convalescent Plasma Therapy?

Convalescent Plasma Therapy is not a new invention. It has been used for over 100 years. The idea of using plasma therapy took birth in the late 19th century. Physiologist Emil von Behring and Bacteriologist Kitasato Shibasaburou found out that they could use antibodies present in serum to fight the bacterial infection diphtheria. Serum is also a blood component. In fact, the first Nobel Prize was awarded to Behring for the use of serum to treat diphtheria.

On and off, doctors have been using passive antibody therapy at least since the 1930s. It has been used to treat or prevent bacterial as well as viral infections. These include some forms of pneumonia, measles, and meningitis.

This is the reason that researchers consider the Convalescent Plasma Therapy can help fight against COVID-19.

How does Convalescent Plasma Therapy work?

The principle behind the Convalescent Plasma Therapy is simple. Our blood contains antibodies that protect us from disease-causing pathogens. When people recover from an infection, their blood contains antibodies that have learned to identify and fight the pathogens responsible for that particular infection.

The Plasma in our blood carries these antibodies. Doctors take the Plasma of a person who has recovered from a particular infection and administer it to a patient currently fighting this infectious disease. This helps the patient’s immune system to reject the pathogen more efficiently.

COVID-19 is also an infection caused by a virus. So some researchers believe the Convalescent Plasma Therapy can help the patients of this disease too. While the research and trials are still going on, the results are promising. Many patients have shown positive effects when treated with Convalescent Plasma Therapy. However, so far, we can’t call it a sure-shot treatment to cure all COVID-19 patients.

Use of plasma therapy in previous pandemics

Convalescent plasma therapy has been trialed even during earlier coronavirus outbreaks. A few observational studies were done during the first SARS epidemic in 2003. The studies showed some improvement in patients after receiving convalescent plasma therapy, and no evidence of serious complications. However, most of these studies were just case reports and can’t be taken as full-scale research.

Even during the Ebola virus outbreak in 2013 – 2016, some doctors used convalescent plasma treatment and reported positive reports.

How to donate Plasma for convalescent plasma therapy?

You can donate Plasma at almost all reputable blood banks. You will have to go through a screening process to ensure your blood is safe and healthy. This is similar to the screening done for blood donations. If you pass, your blood will be drawn through a needle placed in a vein in your arm.

Then, a machine will separate your Plasma from the blood. This process is called plasmapheresis. The remaining blood components, including Red Blood Cells, will be returned to your body with a little saline solution.

Who can donate Plasma?

You can donate your Plasma if you are between the ages of 18-60 and have no sickness or comorbidities. You can safely donate your Plasma every 28 days, up to 13 times a year. If you have an AB blood type, then your Plasma is universal. This means that your Plasma can be administered to anyone.

If you want to donate your Plasma for convalescent plasma therapy against COVID-19, you can do so after three weeks of fully recovering from this infection. You must have tested negative for Covid-19 twice.

Find out further eligibility details at https://www.ilbs.in/plasma/.

The post Convalescent Plasma Therapy: Can it cure COVID-19? appeared first on WellnessHub Nourishing Your Mind, Body, and Soul.

Words like Social Distancing, Self-Isolation, Self-Quarantine, Lockdown are the buzzwords of these trying times. But what do they mean? What’s the difference between Social Distancing, Self-Isolation, Self-Quarantine, and Lockdown? Let us explain.

Difference between Social Distancing, Self-Isolation, Self-Quarantine, Lockdown

Social Distancing:

Social distancing means “remaining out of congregate settings, avoiding mass gatherings, and maintaining distance (approximately 6 feet or 2 meters) from others when possible.” Simply speaking, it means — reduce contact with other people.

• Stay away from the crowd. Stay away from crowded places like malls, movie theatres, markets, religious places, restaurants, gyms, swimming pools, etc. Avoid stepping out of your home unless it is unavoidable. Don’t organize or take part in any activities that involve mass gathering.
• Social distancing does not limit you from going out of your home to buy essential supplies or other important work. But when you go out, maintain a minimum 1-meter distance from others (2 meters is recommended, wherever possible).
• The elderly or immunocompromised people must be stricter in maintaining this social distancing. People who already have poor health and weak immunity can get more severely affected by Coronavirus.

Isolation or Self-Isolation:

While social distancing is for the people who don’t yet have COVID-19, Isolation is for those who have become infected. People who have COVID-19 are advised to isolate themselves to prevent the infection from spreading to others. It is a way of limiting the patients’ contact with those living around them.

Quarantine or Self-Quarantine:

Quarantine is to limit the movements of those people who have been exposed to COVID-19 but are not yet sick. Authorities send people into quarantine to monitor their health and see if they develop COVID-19. Some at-risk people are put in quarantine centers. Others may be advised to self-quarantine themselves at home.

Isolation and Quarantine follow almost similar procedures to distance the general public from people who have or might have COVID-19 infection. The purpose of both these procedures is the same — break the chain of the infection.

When should you isolate yourself?

As per NHS, If you have symptoms of COVID-19, you need to self-isolate yourself for 7 days. After 7 days, if you do not have a high temperature, you do not need to self-isolate. If you have a high temperature, stay isolated until your temperature returns to normal. No need to self-isolate if you only have a cough after 7 days.

If you live with someone who has COVID-19 symptoms, you need to isolate yourself for 14 days from the day their symptoms started. If more than one person in your family has the symptoms, isolate yourself for 14 days from the day the first person showed symptoms. And if you start showing symptoms too, self-isolate yourself for 7 more days from the day your symptoms appear.

Precautions in self-isolation:

People under self-isolation or self-quarantine must be very careful about their health and surrounding. If you are isolating yourself, observe the following precautions:

• Monitor your symptoms and communicate any change you notice in your health to your doctor.
• Eat a healthy diet. Drink plenty of water to stay hydrated.
• Do some light exercise every day if you feel well enough.
• People observing self-isolation or self-quarantine can go out to exercise. But stay at least 3 steps away from other people. Avoid public parks. Walk and exercise in your garden, patio, backyard, etc.
• Do not visit anybody and say no to visitors.
• Do not go out to buy food or medicine. Ask someone to get such things for you and leave them at your doorstep.
• Stay in one room and do not share your bed with anyone.
• Maintain a distance from all family members as much as possible.
• COVID-19 patients should wear masks when they are around other people.
• Ensure good personal hygiene and practice rigorous hand washing, or frequent use of hand sanitizer.
• Do not share your personal items with family members. Things like towels, bedsheets, etc. should be kept separate.
• The household surfaces like table tops, door handles should be cleaned thoroughly and regularly.
• If you have symptoms and someone in your family is of the vulnerable group (Elderly, pregnant, long-term health condition, immunocompromised)arrange for them to stay with family or friends for 14 days. If they must stay with you, try to keep away from each other as much as possible.
• Clean a shared bathroom every time you use it. Wipe clean the surfaces you have touched.
• Educate your children about the need to stay away from you in age-appropriate language.
• Take care of your physical and mental health while in isolation or quarantine. Stay in touch with family and friends over the phone. Stay positive.

Lockdown: 

In a lockdown, people of an entire region are ordered to stay at home. At such a time, you can go out for essential supplies and other emergencies. But you must not step out of home for non-essential tasks. Doing this may even be a punishable offense.

• When you do step out in a lockdown, make sure you can prove it is for an essential purpose.
• Maintain social distancing when you are outside your home.
• Lockdown can extend for many days. At such a time, you must keep yourself busy and engaged within your home for managing your physical and emotional health. Eat a healthy diet, exercise regularly within your home or garden, and stay positive.

Conclusion:

Social distancing, self-isolation, quarantine, lockdown are all measures important to contain the spread of Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. Observe them carefully, taking all precautions to ensure that you and those around you stay safe from Coronavirus. When you must stay confined within your home, don’t panic or get anxious. Keep yourself engaged, eat a good diet, and stay connected with your family, friends, and doctor.

The post Social Distancing vs. Self-Isolation vs. Quarantine – What’s the difference? appeared first on WellnessHub Nourishing Your Mind, Body, and Soul.