Abstract
Background: The COVID-19 pandemic is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). At the time of writing, neither a cure nor a vaccine has been approved by the World health organization (WHO) for this disease. Given the fact that the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) viruses have a genetic sequencing similar to SARS-CoV-2, and since the use of convalescent plasma therapy (CP) has proved its efficacy in SARS and MERS virus infections, researchers are starting to focus more on it as a possible therapy for the COVID-19 disease. The main objective of this rapid review is to report and summarize the published evidence on the role of convalescent plasma therapy in the current COVID-19 pandemic.
 Method: The PICO method was used to establish the review question. Moreover, papers were gathered from PubMed and Google scholar, critically appraised for the best evidence. Piersons 5-component scheme was used to check the quality of the review papers.
 Results: After website screening: 10 papers in PubMed and 6 papers from Google scholars were retrieved. There were encouraging reports regarding the uses of CP in the previous viral outbreaks likes SARS and Ebola, yet there is still a doubt on the efficacy of this mode of therapy in the current COVID-19 pandemic.
 Conclusion: CP is a very promising treatment approach for COVID-19 patients; however, more clinical trials are required to validate the effectiveness of this therapy.
 Keywords: COVID-19, convalescent plasma therapy, SARS-CoV-2, therapy.
Highlights
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), originating from Wuhan in China, has rapidly enveloped the world becoming a pandemic [1]
On the 10th of April 2020 the research databases PubMed, Google Scholar were screened for articles providing information on the use of convalescent plasma for the treatment of COVID-19 patients, (Fig.2)
A total of 16 articles were found after preliminary screening of the PubMed and Google Scholars databases
Summary
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), originating from Wuhan in China, has rapidly enveloped the world becoming a pandemic [1]. To date, there are no drugs or vaccines approved for the disease by the WHO [3] Options of treatment such as antiviral drugs and corticosteroids are still under review by many agencies and are yet to be officially approved by the WHO [3, 4]. The COVID-19 pandemic is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Given the fact that the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) viruses have a genetic sequencing similar to SARS-CoV2, and since the use of convalescent plasma therapy (CP) has proved its efficacy in SARS and MERS virus infections, researchers are starting to focus more on it as a possible therapy for the COVID-19 disease. Conclusion: CP is a very promising treatment approach for COVID-19 patients; more clinical trials are required to validate the effectiveness of this therapy
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