Hope amid virus gloom

With pandemic gloom surrounding all of us, a ray of hope has lately emerged. A potentially promising therapy to treat patients infected with Covid-19 has yielded fruitful result this week following successful clinical trials. The first Covid-19 patient, who had received plasma therapy, has fully recovered at isolation ward in Liaquat University Hospital (LUH) Jamshoro and was ready to be discharged. The patient whose successful recovery has kindled hope in other critically ill Covid-19 patients was donated the plasma by a cured patient on May 3.

With coronavirus vaccine at least 12 to 18 months away and sharp rise in cases, this success should be seen as a seminal breakthrough in the fight against the contagion. “The patient’s first sample was taken on May 13 and then another was collected on May 14 and both turned out to be negative. We are now in the process of discharging him from Covid-9 isolation ward. But he will have to stay in the hospital’s medicine intensive care unit (ICU) in view of his co- morbidities,” said a senior doctor at the hospital.

Having recovered, the patient has become the first to successfully receive plasma therapy in LUH after its clinical trial was approved by Sindh government in April as a part of passive immunisation suggested by noted hematologist Dr Tahir Shamsi. “After convalescent plasma therapy on May 3 under government permission for clinical trial on experimental basis, the patient’s condition had improved considerably, otherwise he had been serious,” said the doctor. According to an encyclopedia entry, plasma is the often-forgotten part of blood. White blood cells, red blood cells, and platelets are important to body function, but plasma also plays a key role. This fluid carries the blood components throughout the body.

Some health organisations call plasma ‘the gift of life’. It is a critical part of the treatment for many serious health problems. This is why there are blood drives asking people to donate blood plasma.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 18^th, 2020.

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