THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In view of emerging studies and directions from agencies like the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the state has revised its advisory for administering convalescent plasma therapy (CPT) to Covid-19 patients.As per the latest advisory, antibody screening of plasma donor and recipient has been made mandatory. Also, only Covid-19 patients with moderate disease severity and who requires oxygenation will be administered CPT.
According to the latest advisory, a criterion for administering CPT is that the patient should be in the early stage of Covid-19 — three to seven days from onset of symptoms, but not more than 10 days. “Other than that, a potential donor for convalescent plasma should have sufficient concentration of antibody working against Covid-19. In the case of the recipient, no antibody against Covid-19 should be present as it makes transfusing convalescent plasma a futile intervention,” reads an excerpt of the advisory.
It also stated that testing negative for Covid is not necessary for donating plasma. The advisory issued by the state is more or less similar to the one released by the ICMR in November. ICMR had then opined that CPT did not lead to a reduction in progression to severe Covid-19 or all-cause mortality in the group that received convalescent plasma as compared to the group that didn’t receive it. Express had earlier reported that the state will revise its CPT advisory though its success rate is 90 per cent in the state.