While some covidiots think all we need to cure COVID-19 is the “wind of god” or snake oil, or even injecting bleach, the one legit treatment that actually appears to be working as the world battles the highly contagious pandemic is convalescent plasma therapy. The practice of a recovered patient donating their plasma or blood, which contains antibodies against the virus, to help improve an infected patient’s condition, is being adapted across the world in the absence of a vaccine or cure. Case studies in China and the US show that many severely ill patients showed promising signs of recovery after receiving this treatment.
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Along with this promising development in India, in a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, researchers in China reported that convalescent plasma therapy improved the outcomes of ten patients with severe coronavirus illness. This experimental therapy, which dates back several hundred years, was used in the treatment of the Spanish flu as well as the 2009 H1N1 influenza, SARS and MERS viruses. Researchers believe that this could help shorten how long the coronavirus illness lasts as well as reduce its risks, since the therapy can be given to both, recovering patients with severe symptoms as well as people who haven’t developed symptoms yet but have been exposed to a carrier. Convalescent plasma is one of three immune-based options that may be able to tackle COVID-19. However, doctors say that even as this therapy is promising, it would have to undergo randomised controlled trials for its clinical benefits to be assessed.
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