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Plasma therapy is a safe treatment option for coronavirus patients

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Results of the Plasma therapy trial showed that 19 out of 25 patients (76 per cent) improved with the treatment and 11 were discharged from the hospital. There were no serious adverse side effects caused by the plasma transfusion.

“While physician-scientists around the world scramble to test new drugs and treatments against the Covid-19 virus, convalescent serum therapy emerge as potentially one of the most promising strategies,” said study researcher Eric Salazar from Houston Methodist Hospital.

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Patients were treated under emergency use guidelines (eIND) from the US Food and Drug Administration and then received approval from the FDA to open up the trial to more patients as an investigational new drug (IND).

According to the researchers, the century-old therapeutic approach dates back to at least as early as 1918 when it was used to fight the Spanish Flu. Recently, they added that convalescent plasma therapy was used with some success during the 2003 SARS pandemic, the 2009 influenza H1N1 pandemic, and the 2015 Ebola outbreak in Africa.

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Following a study early on in the Covid-19 pandemic, where a handful of critically ill patients in China showed an improvement, an interdisciplinary team of Houston Methodist physician-scientists and health care workers rapidly targeted the Covid-19 virus with convalescent serum therapy.

Additional findings during this trial revealed patient outcomes following plasma therapy were very similar to recently published results of patients treated on a compassionate-use basis with the antiviral drug remdesivir.

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The research team also concluded that any observed complications were consistent with findings reported for Covid-19 disease progression and did not result from the plasma transfusions.

The overall findings were consistent with several other small case studies of convalescent plasma use for severe Covid-19 that have been recently reported.

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Although the convalescent plasma therapy administered on the front lines at Houston Methodist was implemented for emergency treatment, they said there is an immediate need for controlled clinical trials to determine its efficacy.

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Corona

Covid toll in Karnataka is a worrying sign for state government

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Even though Karnataka recorded the lowest number of Covid deaths in April since the virus struck first in 2020, the state is recording a rise in the positivity rate (1.50 per cent). Five people died from the Covid infections in April as per the statistics released by the state health department. In March, the positivity rate stood around 0.53 per cent. In the first week of April it came down to 0.38 per cent, second week registered 0.56 per cent, third week it rose to 0.79 per cent and by end of April the Covid positivity rate touched 1.19 per cent.

on an average 500 persons used to succumb everyday in the peak of Covid infection, as per the data. Health experts said that the mutated Coronavirus is losing its fierce characteristics as vaccination, better treatment facilities and awareness among the people have contributed to the lesser number of Covid deaths.

During the 4th and 6th of April two deaths were reported in Bengaluru, one in Gadag district on April 8, two deaths were reported from Belagavi and Vijayapura on April 30. The first Covid case was reported in the state in March 2020 and three Covid deaths were recorded in the month. In the following month 21 people became victims to the deadly virus, and May 2020 recorded 22 deaths. The death toll recorded everyday after May crossed three digits. However, the third wave, which started in January 2

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