First COVID-19 patient treated with plasma therapy recovers fully.

Recovered patients donating their blood so the antibodies they developed can be used to help infected people, seems a promising potential antidote.

Recovered patients donating their blood so the antibodies they developed can be used to help infected people, seems a promising potential antidote. On April 4, a male patient who had tested positive for coronavirus infection was admitted to Max Hospital, Delhi, with moderate symptoms and a history of fever and respiratory issues. His condition started deteriorating, and he had to be put on ventilator support after he developed pneumonia with Type-I respiratory failure. Subsequently, he was treated using plasma therapy.

Dr. Sandeep Budhiraja, Medical Director of Max Healthcare, said that the Plasma therapy worked well in this case, opening a new treatment opportunity. However, other standard treatment protocols were followed, and plasma therapy could have worked as a catalyst in speeding up his recovery.

The central government of India has allowed plasma therapy trials to be conducted on critical patients and for its effects to be studied, with Delhi's Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal even urging recovered patients to come forward and donate their blood.

The COVID-19 pandemic has given rise to a lot of potentially dangerous misinformation. For reliable advice on COVID-19 including symptoms, prevention and available treatment, please refer to the World Health Organisation or your national healthcare authority.