Vietnam mulls administering plasma for critical Covid-19 patients
Plasma can be extracted from those who have recovered from Covid-19 to treat critical novel coronavirus patients.
Vietnamese experts in hematology and infectious diseases have been studying and will soon use plasma from convalescent Covid-19 patients to treat those in critical condition, VnExpress quoted Luong Ngoc Khue, director of the Medical Examination and Management Department under the Ministry of Health, as saying.
Khue said that there are currently no vaccines and proven treatment for the Covid-19 yet and convalescent plasma therapy is being considered a potential treatment for Covid-19 patients.
| A medical staff takes samples for Covid-19 in laboratory. Photo: Ngoc Thanh |
Theoretically, plasma can be extracted from those who have recovered from Covid-19 to treat critically-ill novel coronavirus patients. The convalescent plasma contains antibodies that fight infections, and when injected into the body of the critical patient, it may help boost the patient's immunity and neutralize the viremia.
Master Vu Minh Dien, a doctor in the National Hospital of Tropical Diseases, said that as Covid-19 evolution is still complicated, the use of plasma for the disease treatment should be carefully studied and evaluated to provide doctors with more tools to treat Covid-19 patients.
Dien said that the profile of plasma donor and how to use plasma are essential for this therapy.
Recovered Covid-19 patients should be willing to donate plasma and must have antibodies strong enough to neutralize the virus. And the recipient must tolerate the donor’s antibodies while his/her body has not produced new antibodies.
However, plasma therapy for treating Covid-19 patients requires special indication due to the complicated extraction process and not everyone can donate or be transfused, Dien added.
Therefore, the recipients are usually Covid-19 patients in critical condition, with high viral load, have been treated by other methods but no antibodies.
Currently, Vietnam has cured 225 out of 270 Covid-19 cases, of which 5% are patients in critical condition and no deaths have been recorded.
