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COVID-19: Man Treated With Plasma Therapy Recovers, First in India

In a first for India, a COVID-19 patient in Delhi who was treated with convalescent plasma therapy has recovered.

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COVID-19
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In a first for India, a COVID-19 patient in Delhi who was treated with convalescent plasma therapy has completely recovered, India Today reported on Sunday, 26 April.

A 49-year-old, male patient who had tested positive for coronavirus infection on 4 April was admitted at the dedicated COVID-19 facility in East Block of Max Hospital, Saket, with moderate symptoms and a history of fever and respiratory issues, the same day. He had been taken off ventilator support seven days ago, the India Today report said.

When he was admitted, he had moderate symptoms but had a history of respiratory issues. His condition started deteriorating in the next few days and he had to be put on ventilator support after he developed pneumonia with Type-I respiratory failure, according to the report.

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When the patient showed no signs of improvement, his family arranged for a donor for extracting plasma. The donor had recovered from COVID-19 three weeks before she donated plasma to the 49-year-old man. She had earlier tested negative twice consecutively and had to undergo another test during donation along with other standard tests for infections like Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, and HIV. She was allowed to donate the plasma after chances of all the above-mentioned infections were ruled out, the report added.

The experimental plasma treatment is when antibodies from the blood of patients who have recovered from the novel coronavirus are used to treat severely infected COVID-19 patients.

Dr Sandeep Budhiraja, Group Medical Director, Max Healthcare, had said on 24 April, “We are delighted that the therapy worked well in his case, opening a new treatment opportunity during these challenging times. But it is important that we also understand that plasma therapy is no magic bullet".

During the patient's treatment at Max Hospital, Saket, other standard treatment protocols were followed and one can say that the plasma therapy could have worked as a catalyst in speeding up his recovery, he added.

"We cannot attribute 100 percent recovery to plasma therapy only, as there are multiple factors which carved his path to recovery," he said.

Budhiraja said, "one donor can donate 400 ml of plasma which can save two lives, as 200 ml is sufficient to treat one patient".

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