Cororona Virus or Covid 19 pandemic has put researchers on a hyper-drive to find a cure. A variety of medicines and therapies have been tested and a few of them have yielded good results. One of the techniques being employed for the treatment of Covid – 19 is the Plasma Therapy.
What is Plasma
To explain plasma therapy , we must first know what is plasma. Blood consists of White Blood Cells , Red Blood Cells, Platelets and Plasma. Plasma is the liquid component of blood wherein all the other components can move around.
The core functions of plasma are to supply various chemicals etc to different organs and tissues, to remove wastes materials from the blood stream and to carry the other components of blood around the body.
What is Plasma Therapy
The concept of plasma therapy itself is not new. Emin Von Behring received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1901 for finding the cure to Diphtheria using blood serum.
Along with the water, salts, hormones , enzymes and waste materials, plasma also caries the antibodies, clotting factors, and the proteins albumin and fibrinogen. This means the plasma of a person already cured of an illness will have the natural antibodies for that particular illness. This is called the convalescent plasma.
This convalescent plasma can now be administered to new patients who are suffering from the same illness. The antibodies present in the plasma will not only cure the illness, but also create more antibodies.
If done correctly, this therapy has the potential to cure the patients of many types of infections. Recent studies have shown that Plasma Therapy is working miracles. This recent tweet from ANI says the Health Minister of Maharashtra claims of almost 90% success.
Plasma Donation
Plasma donation is very similar to blood donation. But instead of all the components, only plasma is taken and the rest are replaced into the donor’s body. A special machine separates the plasma using process is called plasmapheresis.
Unlike Blood Donation which can be done once every 3 months, plasma donation can be done once every month. Because the plasma gets replenished almost immediately in the human body.
Delhi CM has recently inaugurated India’s first Plasma Bank to help the treatment of Covid -19. He has also said that healthy people between 16 and 50 years can donate plasma once the requirements are fullfilled. Resident doctors of AIIMS have developed an app to track possible plasma donors using an app along with students from IIT Delhi.
(Feature image source: Firstpost)
