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A few days ago, six patients with severe coronavirus pneumonia (Covid-19) who received plasma treatment from recovered patients have been discharged in Wuhan. Most of the remaining patients receiving this therapy will be discharged in the near future.
In this connection, a reporter from Science and Technology Daily interviewed Dr. Duan Kai of The Wuhan Institute of Biological Products, the earliest release of plasma therapy in China.
Duan Kai revealed that the research team has treated nearly 50 critically ill patients in Wuhan. Six patients have been discharged so far. Most of them have improved and will be discharged in the near future.
Duan Kai introduced that within 48 hours after the patient's blood plasma was transfused, most of the viral nucleic acid tests turned negative, and a chest chest radiograph (CT) showed absorption and improvement in the shaded parts, and the major inflammation indicators also significantly decreased. And blood oxygen saturation increased at the same time, "indicating the effectiveness of this therapy is very obvious."
He explained that the principle of plasma therapy is mainly aimed specifically at killing viruses in the body. As long as the virus test is positive, it can be used. "Of course it does not exclude the combination with other drugs."
Duan Kai emphasized that during the course of the plasma therapy treatment, there has been no case of an excessively strong immune response so far, "indicating that it is relatively safe."
As for the promotion of plasma therapy, Duan Kai said that under the unified arrangement of the National Health Commission, this therapy has been promoted and applied in other regions of China and has also achieved very good results.
Duan Kai also pointed out that currently there are two key bottlenecks in plasma therapy:
The first is the issue of mobilization of recovered people. He explained that in fact, donating plasma is only a small part of the human blood, and the damage to the body is very small. "Generally, the human body can supplement and recover by itself in about a week." Used to treat more severe patients. "
The second is to properly use the plasma of the recoverers. "The timing of use is very important." It should be used in the early stages of severe and critically ill patients. "The effect at this time is very obvious."
As for mild patients, "of course it can also be treated with plasma." However, current plasma resources are inadequate and clinical use is tight. Limited resources should be given priority to severe cases to reduce mortality. "If sufficient plasma is available, the sooner it can be used for clinical treatment, the better."
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