Pakistan may introduce C-IVIG therapy as Covid continue to spread

73 die of deadly contagion as 2,459 more test positive

ISLAMABAD:

Pakistan is on the threshold of becoming the first country to carry out research, mandatory to introduce intravenous immunoglobulin (C-IVIG) therapy at a mass level as ‘severe’ patients under treatment for coronavirus, have 100% recovery rate.

Scientists at the Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS) in Karachi, who are conducting clinical trials of the C-IVIG therapy for the treatment coronavirus, have said that the trials were very encouraging and remarkable.

The trials come as the country remains in the grip of a second and deadlier wave of coronavirus, which say 73 deaths and 2,459 new cases of the contagion in the last 24 hours, while the national positivity ration rising to more than 7%.

The C-IVIG therapy uses immunoglobulin (IG), a blood product extracted from the plasma of people who have recovered from infection, and which is rich in the antibodies that target the virus. Continuous infusion of immunoglobin can neutralise the infection in patients and shorten the course of the disease.

The DUHS trials started in June on 30 participants. “The trials are very encouraging and remarkable,” Dr Shaukat Ali, head of biotechnology at DUHS and lead on the C-IVIG project, said in an interview with Arab News.

“At the moment, what we have seen is that all severe patients who received C-IVIG treatment had 100% recovery ratio while in critical patients the recovery ratio was 50 to 60%,” he added. “The results show that the number of hospitalisation days were reduced to six and a half days for severe patients, which is very encouraging because normally a severe patient would occupy hospital resources for 20 to 25 days.”

Dr Ali said Pakistan was the first country to develop the immunoglobulin solution in April 2020. “Only a week ago, an announcement was made by a global plasma alliance of big companies of blood producers, to work on the project,” he added, referring to the Covid-19 Plasma Alliance.

Daily Covid tally

The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), which spearheads the government’s unified effort against the deadly contagion said in its daily update on Tuesday that the total active in Pakistan were recorded at 48,008 as 2,459 more people tested positive during the last 24 hours.

It said that 73 patients, 64 of whom were under treatment in hospital, died on Monday, adding that most of the deaths occurred in Punjab. It added that out of the total 73 deaths, 19 patients died on ventilators.

Earlier, the NCOC was informed in its daily meeting on Tuesday that the current positivity ratio in the country was around 7.12%, with the highest recorded in Hyderabad at 22.45%, followed by 19.89% in Karachi and 19.04% in Peshawar.

(WITH INPUT FROM APP)