Convalescent Plasma Therapy is one form of treatment; it should not be looked at as magic bullets: AIIMS Director

Randeep Guleria, Director, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) has said that Convalescent Plasma Therapy is one form of treatment and it should not be looked at as magic bullets.

"There are a few important things. Plasma therapy is not the only treatment strategy and it is not that it will be effective in all patients because there is a number of other things happening in people affected with coronavirus. Also, patients willing to give blood after 14 days of recovery must contain a good amount of antibodies," Guleria said.

He continued, "We have to be careful about what treatment we are giving because that needs to have an adequate amount of antibodies. It is one form of treatment and should not be looked at as magic bullets. We need to look at it with a research type of treatment modality rather than something which can be done for all patients suffering from Covid-19."

Asked if plasma therapy is seen as a treatment or a preventive measure, Guleria said, "Plasma therapy is currently a treatment and is not given to prevent Covid-19. It is an antibody that gives passive immunity to someone who is already having active disease."

"Many hospitals in India including AIIMS are doing further research on the focussed researches done recently related to convalescent plasma therapy. Currently, there is no data that shows plasma therapy can be given to healthcare workers as an immunity booster," he added.

Recently, the age-old convalescent plasma therapy has emerged as a form of treatment for COVID patients and has been accepted by countries like China and the United States.

The therapy uses antibodies from the blood of a recovered COVID-19 positive patient and transmits it into the body of patient suffering from the same infection.

There are certain studies coming from India that suggest that the number of people recovering do not have good antibodies. This is based on the results obtained from antibody testing kits.

There are two very small studies with six and ten patients where some benefits to the patients were shown.

( With inputs from ANI )

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