KGMU Hospital Starts Plasma Therapy to Treat COVID-19

Convalescent plasma therapy was started on a patient by doctors of King George's Medical University (KGMU) on Sunday.

A 54-year-old government doctor from Orai was transfused with plasma donated by Canada-based woman doctor who, incidentally, was Lucknow's first Corona virus patient and recovered after quarantine and medication.

‘Plasma therapy works faster on moderately affected coronavirus patients. But, both the recipient and donor should have same blood group.’
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Both the recipient and donor had matching blood group and this expedited the decision to conduct plasma therapy.

Antibodies from Corona survivors reportedly help in treating coronavirus infection.

Prof Tulika Chandra of the KGMU medicine department, said, "The doctor from Orai was transfused with 200 ml plasma on Sunday night. And the donor was the first Corona patient of Lucknow. A patient transfused with 200 ml plasma should display response within 24 hours. If not, a second unit of 200 ml of plasma is transfused after 24 hours."

The Orai doctor's condition was extremely critical which led KGMU doctors to conduct the therapy.

The patient, who is father of a MBBS student of the university, had high fever for eight days and also had difficulty in breathing. He came to Lucknow in an ambulance on Friday and was admitted in the isolation ward's ICU.

Coronavirus
Coronaviruses infect animals, humans, and birds. Human coronaviruses, such as SARS, MERS, and 2019-nCoV cause respiratory distress and even death. The S protein is the infectious agent of the virus.

Swab samples of the patient and his wife were sent for testing on Saturday and the reports confirmed infection.

The woman has mild symptoms and has been admitted to the isolation ward," said Dr Himanshu, in charge of infectious disease unit, KGMU.

Prof Tulika Chandra said, "While the therapy works faster on moderately affected patients, we decided to go for plasma therapy after consultation with the family."

Source-IANS