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.

Here’s all you need to know about Coronavirus

1. Coronavirus is a family of viruses. Not all of them are deadly.

As per World Health Organization, Coronavirus (CoV) is a family of viruses that cause mild to severe illness like the common cold, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV), Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV). The virus that’s wreaking havoc around the world these days is a new strain of Coronavirus. A new and unidentified strain of this virus is called novel Coronavirus (nCoV). The latest Coronavirus strain that was first reported from Wuhan, China, on 31 Dec 2019 has been named SARS-CoV-2. And the disease it is causing is called COVID-19.

COVID-19 is proving to be more contagious than previous coronavirus infections (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV) and the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-Co-V)). It spreads by human-to-human transmission via droplets from coughing or sneezing, fecal or direct contact. The incubation period of COVID-19 is 1 to 14 days (usually 3 to 7 days). The biggest danger is that the infection can be transmitted even during the incubation period when people aren’t aware they have COVID-19.

2. Coronaviruses are zoonotic.

Coronaviruses are transmitted between animals and people. The SARS-CoV was transmitted to humans from civet cats. The MERS-CoV was transmitted from camels. Researchers are still not sure which animal transmits the SARS-CoV-2. But it is certain that its first victims worked or frequently shopped in the Huanan seafood wholesale market. That is where they might have come in contact with this new strain of CoV.

SARS-CoV-2 can also be transmitted from human to human through “droplet transmission.” This means this virus can pass from one person to another through sneezing, coughing, or direct contact.

3. Symptoms of Coronavirus infection or COVID-19 disease:

COVID-19 primarily manifests as an acute respiratory illness with pneumonia. In severe cases, it may affect multiple organs such as the kidney, heart, digestive tract, blood, and nervous system. The common symptoms of COVID-19 are fever (98%), cough (76%), and myalgia and fatigue (18% each). Symptoms like running nose and productive cough are uncommon, except in children.

In most cases, the symptoms remain mild and cause only flu-like illness that resolves spontaneously. These include respiratory symptoms, coughing, shortness of breath or difficulty in breathing, and fever.  However, about 16-20% of cases can be ‘severe’ or ‘critical’. And these can lead to organ damage and mortality. In severe cases, SARS-CoV-2 can cause pneumonia, acute respiratory syndrome, and kidney failure. These can prove fatal.

4. What makes COVID-19 disease so dangerous?

As this is a viral infection, doctors can’t treat it with antibiotics. The currently available antiviral medicines are ineffective against it. And there is no vaccine yet available for this new strain of Coronavirus. It can cause severe pneumonia and organ failure. Those with a weak immune system get more seriously affected.

The epicenter of its outbreak has recorded a 2% mortality rate among patients of this disease. It is lesser in other affected areas. Comparatively, the seasonal flu has a mortality rate below 1% and it causes about 400,000 deaths every year globally.

Most of the people who died because of COVID-19 were already in poor health. The elderly and people with existing respiratory or immune disorders are more severely affected by it. A strong and healthy person has a better chance of recovering from this infection.

5. Why SARS-CoV-2 is a medical emergency?

The first case of COVID-19 disease was reported in China on 31st December 2019. In a short period, SARS-CoV-2 has spread to over 80 countries and has affected nearly 100,000 people worldwide. Over 3,300 deaths caused by COVID-19 have already been reported. That is why the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 a pandemic.

6. What can you do to stay safe from Coronavirus?

There are some simple steps you can take to stay safe from SARS-CoV-2.

• Avoid going to countries affected by it.
• Follow social distancing. Avoid crowded places or wear a protective mask in such areas.
• Wash your hands often and maintain good personal hygiene.
• Avoid touching your mouth, nose, and eyes frequently.
• Stay away from people showing respiratory symptoms like coughing and sneezing.
• Make sure the animal products you are eating are thoroughly cooked.

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