Effectiveness of convalescent plasma therapy in eight non-intubated coronavirus disease 2019 patients in Indonesia: a case series

Abstract

Background Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, the cause of coronavirus disease 2019, has become a global pandemic. Currently, there is no definitive treatment for coronavirus disease 2019. Convalescent plasma therapy has become a potential specific curative method, while vaccines as protection modalities require further work. Case presentation Eight non-intubated Indonesian patients, ages ranging from 40 to 74 years old, with coronavirus disease 2019 confirmed by viral Ribonucleid Acid (RNA) real-time polymerase chain reaction tests were included. Four patients were administered two doses of 200 mL convalescent plasma, and the other four patients were administered one dose of convalescent plasma with an antibody titer of 1:320, within the first 14 days since symptoms occurred. The median times from illness onset to convalescent plasma therapy and from the first day of hospital admission to convalescent plasma therapy were 13 and 6.5 days, respectively. All patients showed improvements in clinical symptoms, laboratory parameters, thorax imaging, negative conversion of polymerase chain reaction results, and decreased oxygen supplementation within 1 week after convalescent plasma therapy. Patients with two convalescent plasma doses tended to have faster recovery than those with one convalescent plasma dose. No severe adverse effects were observed in any patient. Conclusion This is the first case series in Indonesia showing that convalescent plasma therapy is safe and well tolerated and that early convalescent plasma therapy before the patient is intubated could potentially prevent disease progression, increase the recovery rate, and shorten the inpatient time of stay.

Inhaled hydrogel-based microspheres for management of COVID-19: A new sweeper biological platform

“… 4 On the human side, the standard defense methods are anti-viral drugs, vaccinations, and hormonal drugs. 5 , 6 However, these defense methods have limitations, such as side effects, limited effectiveness, long research periods, and expensive research-development cost. Therefore, humans have to discover various strategies to fight against the viruses.…”

Efektivitas Terapi Plasma Konvalesen pada Pasien Covid-19 Derajat Berat dan Kritis dari Laporan Kasus dan Seri Kasus: Tinjauan Sistematis

“…Some of the results of case series and case reports discuss the administration of convalescent plasma therapy with antiviral, corticosteroid, antibiotic therapy and others according to the protocol, showing changes in clinical development after convalescent plasma administration such as decreased and normal body temperature, decreased SOFA score, PAO2 /FIO2 increases and laboratory results such as viral load become negative, biomarkers decrease and chest radiology results show improvement. (6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16) Possible mechanisms of action of convalescent plasma prevent the inflammatory response in the pathogenesis of COVID-19, such as neutralizing antibodies, control of an overactive immune system (cytokine storm, Th1/Th17 ratio, complement activation) and immunomodulating hypercoagulable states (2,(17)(18)(19).…”