Convalescent plasma treatment for Covid-19 patients in Kenya

With Kenyans recording lower numbers of coronavirus cases, the government said that they would begin the use of blood plasma.

Last week, the Health ministry said the plasma would be taken from recovered coronavirus patients as a possible treatment against the disease that has killed over 500 in the country.

The plasma is believed to contain powerful antibodies that can help fight off the disease faster .

While the treatment has already been used on patients in the United States and other nations, the extent of its effectiveness is still debated by experts and some have warned that it could carry side effects.

But what entails the use of Convalescent plasma?

Convalescent plasma is an experimental treatment that some doctors are using for people with severe coronavirus disease.

No drug has been proved to be safe and effective for treating the virus. 

But, people who have recovered from the disease have antibodies — proteins the body uses to fight off infections — to the disease in their blood.

The blood from people who have recovered is called convalescent plasma. Plasma is the liquid portion of the blood.

Why is it necessary?

Some people become very sick and don’t respond to other treatments or drugs.

According to Mayo clinic, these people often develop acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) — a severe lung condition.

They often require mechanical assistance, such as a ventilator, to breathe. These people also are in danger of developing organ failure.

The plasma could also help other people who may have a higher risk of serious illness, such as people with chronic medical conditions.

Convalescent plasma could help these people from getting sicker if they contract the disease.

Convalescent plasma might also be considered for family members or health care workers who have been exposed to someone with the virus to potentially prevent them from getting infected.

Your doctor may consider you a candidate for convalescent plasma therapy if you’re seriously ill .With this, the doctor will decide if it will be beneficial for you and may enrol you in the treatment program. 

Your doctor will order convalescent plasma that is compatible with your blood type.

How its done

Before the transfusion is done, your health care team prepares you for the procedure.

A health care team member inserts a sterile single-use needle connected to a tube (intravenous, or IV, line) into a vein in one of your arms.

When the plasma arrives, the sterile plasma bag is attached to the tube and the plasma drips out of the bag and into the tube.

It takes about one to two hours to complete the procedure.

But the doctors will have to constantly monitor you to see the progress.

It is at this point that the doctor will record your response and reaction to the treatment.

He or she may record how long you needed to stay in the hospital or if you needed help with breathing or other therapies following the convalescent plasma procedure.

Risks

Blood and plasma have been used to treat many other conditions, and they’re usually very safe.

Mayo clinic notes that researchers believe that the risk is very low because the plasma donor has fully recovered from the infection.

Convalescent plasma therapy carries the risk of allergic reactions, lung damage and difficulty breathing, and transmission of infections.

The risk of these infections is very low, because donated blood must meet certain requirements.

Before donated blood can be used, it must be tested for safety. It then goes through a process to separate out blood cells so that all that’s left is plasma with antibodies.

Although many people experience no symptoms, others have mild to severe medical complications that lead to death in some people.

A research on Effect of Convalescent Plasma tipped the scales toward authorization of emergency use in US came from a preliminary study of 35,000 patients posted August 12 at medRxiv.org.

“In a group of about 3,000 patients, researchers compared the mortality of patients who received plasma with high and low levels, of antibodies at different stages of illness. Of people who got plasma with high levels of antibodies, 8.9 percent died, on average, after seven days of treatment. That’s compared with the 13.7 percent of people who got plasma with low levels of antibodies who died in that time frame.”

Last week, the US Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday put on hold emergency authorization for blood plasma as a Covid-19 treatment, according to the NY Times.

This comes as top federal health officials including Dr. Francis S. Collins and Dr. Anthony S. Fauci intervened, arguing that emerging data on the treatment was too weak.

In late April, a coalition of New Mexico healthcare systems began asking local COVID-19 survivors to donate their plasma, the antibody-rich blood product used to help treat people hospitalised with the disease.

More than 50 people donated in May, but then the numbers started falling, according to data from Vitalant, a nonprofit blood bank that works with the coalition to recruit donors. In June, 34 people gave plasma to the effort, the data show; in July it was just 29.