Use Of Convalescent Plasma Therapy Research Articles

Exploring the Efficacy of Convalescent Plasma Therapy in COVID-19 Patients: A Clinical Trial Study

Background: In December 2019, a group of patients in Wuhan, Hubei province, China, presented with severe illness and pneumonia of unknown origin. Subsequently, a novel coronavirus was identified as the cause and named "2019 novel coronavirus" (2019-nCoV), later defined as "SARS-CoV-2" (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2), leading to the development of the disease known as COVID-19. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of convalescent plasma as a potential therapy for patients with COVID-19. Methods: Patients diagnosed with COVID-19 based on real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) or CT-Scan symptoms were randomly assigned to either the treatment group (n = 29, received convalescent plasma) or the control group (n = 29). Clinical manifestations and pulmonary involvement were monitored three times during the study. At the end of the intervention, patients were evaluated for clinical symptoms, laboratory test results, and length of hospital stay. Results: Among the 58 patients who completed the study, there were no significant differences in baseline characteristics between the treatment and control groups upon admission to the hospital. However, the length of hospital stay was significantly shorter (9.54 days) in the convalescent plasma group compared to the control group (12.88 days). Conclusion: The findings from this study indicate that the use of convalescent plasma therapy, in addition to standard treatment, did not result in reduced mortality or improved clinical outcomes at day 7 when compared to a placebo or control group.

Acute transverse myelitis (ATM) associated with COVID 19 infection and vaccination, A case report and literature review. (P10-5.022)

<h3>Objective:</h3> N/A <h3>Background:</h3> Acute transverse myelitis (ATM) is an inflammatory disorder, caused by many etiologies, whether post infectious or autoimmune. Rarely, TM cases have been reported after both COVID-19 infection and COVID-19 vaccination. We describe our experience with TM after COVID-19 infection and conduct a literature review. <h3>Design/Methods:</h3> We report a case of ATM after COVID-19 infection and present a comprehensive literature review of TM cases reported after COVID-19 infection and COVID-19 vaccination. The literature search was done using PubMed and Google scholar and selected peer-reviewed articles. The search included all cases from Jan 2020 to Sept 2022. <h3>Results:</h3> A total of 60 TM cases reported association with post-COVID-19 infection and 23 TM cases reported association with post-COVID-19 vaccinations. Among post-COVID-19 TM cases, the mean age was 49 years, and the youngest reported is 7month-old. 55% (33) of them are longitudinally extensive TM (LETM). The most common symptom is lower extremity weakness. 1 case was reported as necrotizing myelitis on biopsy, and another case was overlap syndrome of GBS with longitudinal TM. No cases reported the use of convalescent plasma therapy after infection. Almost all TM cases were treated with steroids, but some cases needed additional treatment since not all responded adequately. 6 cases (10%) responded with steroids + plasmapheresis, 5 cases (8%) responded with steroids + IVIG especially in the pediatric age group. One case reported a positive response after treatment with eculizumab, and another with infliximab. 2 cases (3%) remained paraparetic. Among post-covid-19 vaccine TM cases, 4 cases (17%) were reported LETM. 5 cases (21%) had symptom onset within a week after vaccination. Almost all of them reported responding with steroids except one case reported fatal after 58th day after vaccination. <h3>Conclusions:</h3> TM, post-COVID-19 infection, has been described in multiple cases, as well as being a rare complication of COVID-19 vaccination. <b>Disclosure:</b> Dr. Medavarapu has nothing to disclose. Dr. Anziska has nothing to disclose.

A CASE SERIES on the Convalescent Plasma use in SARSCOV2 PCR Positive Filipino Patients in Makati Medical Center

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused tremendous stress in the healthcare system worldwide with millions of death and morbidities. Convalescent plasma therapy has given hope for cure at this time of great uncertainty. Multiple studies and literature review attempted to understand the efficacy of the therapy but unable to provide definite and clear answers. This case series presents data on 55 Filipino patients who were given convalescent plasma therapy. In this observation, mean age of patients is 63 ± 13 years old, predominantly male (67.27%, N=37), all Filipinos, with 2 or more co-morbidities, with severe and critical case (92.73%, N=51), with symptoms of fever, difficulty of breathing and body malaise. Majority of the plasma were collected in -house, given after 2 weeks of illness but within 7 days of hospital admission. More patients were discharged at 60%(N=33). No improvement in Vital signs, Laboratory results and Chest X-ray was noted after Convalescent plasma therapy. The lack of high quality studies on plasma therapy and definitive cure in COVID-19 infection maintains convalescent plasma therapy as a possible cure, mostly at times of infection in a pandemic scale. High quality clinical trials in the use of Convalescent plasma therapy is encouraged to provide high quality data as basis of treatment recommendation.

Convalescent plasma therapy for coronavirus disease 2019 in ambulatory versus hospitalized patients: Efficacy and risk of thromboembolism

BackgroundAlthough early evidence concluded a lack of clinical benefit of convalescent plasma therapy (CPT) in COVID-19 management, recent trials have demonstrated the therapeutic potential of CPT in ambulatory care. CPT may also potentiate thromboembolic events, given the presence of coagulation factors and the prothrombotic state of COVID-19. ObjectivesThe present study aimed to assess and compare the clinical efficacy and the risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE)/arterial thromboembolism (ATE) of CPT in ambulatory versus hospitalized patients with COVID-19. MethodsMEDLINE, Embase, and Cochrane CENTRAL were searched from December 2019 to December 2022 for randomized controlled trials that investigated the use of CPT against placebo or standard of care in adult patients with COVID-19. The primary outcome was nonmortality disease progression. Secondary outcomes include VTE, ATE, 28-day mortality, clinical improvement, length of hospitalization, sepsis/fever, and major adverse cardiovascular events. ResultsTwenty randomized controlled trials, with 21,340 patients, were included. CPT significantly reduced nonmortality disease progression in ambulatory patients (odds ratio [OR], 0.72; 95% CI, 0.56-0.92; P = .009) but not in hospitalized patients (OR, 1.03; 95% CI, 0.94-1.12; P = .58). The risk of VTE and ATE did not differ between the CPT and the control group (OR, 1.16; 95% CI, 0.82-1.66; P = .40; and OR, 1.01; 95% CI, 0.37-2.79; P = .98, respectively). No conclusive differences between CPT and control groups were noted in 28-day mortality, clinical improvement, length of hospitalization, risk of sepsis/fever, and major adverse cardiovascular events. ConclusionIn conclusion, treatment of COVID-19 with CPT prevents the progression of COVID-19 in the ambulatory care. It is not associated with an increased risk of VTE, ATE, or other adverse events.

The Use of Convalescent Plasma Therapy on COVID-19 Filipino Patients: A Tertiary Center Experience

Aim: To know the effect of Convalescent plasma in clinical and laboratory parameters of the recipients, the effect of convalescent plasma in clinical and laboratory parameters of the CPT arm and control arm, to identify the association of early consultation to severity and outcome, early administration of convalescent plasma to severity and outcome and lastly to identify overall effect of convalescent plasma to overall mortality and overallmortality with severity. Methods: Prospective, non-randomized, Cohort Study. Results: 35 patients were assigned as plasma recipients and 35 patient as control arm receiving standard of treatment alone. They were matched based on age, sex, severity. Descriptive statistics shows comparability of both arms. There is noted positive effect of convalescent plasma in the temperature(Mean Pre-CPT Temperature of 37.05±0.61, Mean Post-CPT Temp of 36.54±0.50, p-value of 0.001), and Systolic Blood pressure (Mean Pre-CPT SBP 126.62±17.41, Mean Post-CPT SBP 119.32±14.66, p-value of 0.033). Among the clinical parameters, CBC, significant difference was noted in the eosinophils and MCHC, CRP among the inflammatory markers, SGOT for the liver function test, in the arterial blood gas parameters there was noted significant difference in the level of paO2, pCO2, HCO3 in favor of a positive effect of convalescent plasma except for the eosinophils which may be negative in nature. Among the clinical parameters, there is noted significant difference in favor of CPT in the values of Oxygen saturation, white blood cell, neutrophil count, lymphocytes count, basophils, eosinophil count; there was significantly lower values for inflammatory markers in the CPT arm namely in LDH, CRP, DDMER, Procalcitonin; the same was noted in the liver function test(SGPT, SGOT), arterial blood gas, specifically, in paO2 and Chest-Xray lesion. There is significant difference favoring the control arm in the Rox index, O2 support. There is significant difference favoring those who were discharged in both mean systolic and diastolic pressure, in the hematocrit, white blood cell count, monocytes, Basophils, MCV, MCH, MCHC. All inflammatory markers favors the CPT arm. Same positive effect was seen in the pH and pCO2 and Chest-X Ray lesion. Results showed that there is weak positive correlation between duration of symptoms to consult and disease severity with Spearman's correlation coefficient of 0.1591 but not significant. No sufficient statistical evidence to conclude that duration of symptoms to consult is associated with mortality. Furthermore, in looking at the association of giving CPT early in the disease presentation and severity as well as outcome, results showed that there is weak negative correlation between duration of symptoms to CPT and disease severity. But, not significant. Duration of symptoms to CPT was found to be significantly associated with mortality. There is no sufficient evidence to conclude that CPT is associated with a favorable outcome among COVID-19 patients. Same results were observed after doing sub-analysis according to severity of disease. Conclusion: Convalescent plasma, in general, did not show improvement in clinical and laboratory parameters among recipients. But, CPT recipients show better clinical and laboratory parameters compared to the control arm(non-CPT recipient). Early administration of convalescent plasma may decrease mortality. There are no significant differences observed in over-all cause mortality among CPT recipients and those recipients of the best available treatment alone.

Use of convalescent plasma therapy in hospitalised adult patients with non-critical COVID-19: a focus on the elderly from Hungary

Convalescent plasma therapy might be a feasible option for treatment of novel infections. During the early phases of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic, several promising results were published with convalescent plasma therapy, followed by more disappointing findings of randomised controlled trials. In our single-centre, open-label, prospective, cohort study, we assessed the findings of 180 patients treated with convalescent plasma during the first four waves of the pandemic in Hungary. The primary outcome was all-cause mortality; secondary outcomes were clinical improvement and need for intensive care unit admission by day 28. Subgroup analysis comparing elderly and non-elderly (less than 65 years of age) was performed. Twenty (11.4%) patients died by day 28, at significantly higher rates in the elderly subgroup (3 vs. 17, p < 0.01). One hundred twenty-eight (72.7%) patients showed clinical improvement, and 15 (8.5%) were transferred to the intensive care unit until day 28. Non-elderly patients showed clinical improvement by day 28 in significantly higher rates (improvement 74 vs. 54, no improvement 15 vs. 11, worsening or death 4 vs. 18 patients, p < 0.01). In conclusion, we found similar clinical outcome results as randomised controlled trials, and the impact of risk factors for unfavourable clinical outcomes among patients in the elderly population.

Effectiveness of convalescent plasma therapy for COVID-19 patients infected with variants of concerns

COVID-19 cases in Indonesia seemed to be increasing by each passing day at the time of writing this review, more positive cases discovered than the recovered ones. With the highest rank within all ASEAN countries, and also a home of many variants of COVID-19, Indonesia had become a break off destination to others. Along with the problem associated with the pandemic, which all people had to face, the purpose of this review is to elaborate the use of convalescent plasma therapy on treatment against COVID-19, especially its different variants. We overview the evidence that we obtained from several databases using specific keywords. A large amount of evidence points out that the convalescent plasma therapy has shown a promising outcome against COVID-19 infection, as it did for infectious diseases. Although in COVID-19 variants of concern, convalescent plasma therapy showed a reduction in neutralization ~ 3-fold against P.1, and 7-13 folds against B.1.351 variant, it still can be used as a treatment for COVID-19 and its variants.&#x0D; Abbreviations: PPE - personal protective equipment; VoC - Variants of concern; VoI - Variants of interest; CPT - convalescent plasma therapy; RBD - receptor-binding domain; ARDS - Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome; ICU - Intensive Care Unit; IQR - Interquartile Range; RCT - Randomized Clinical Trial; RT-PCR - Reverse Transcriptase-Polymerase Chain Reaction; NAbs - neutralizing antibodies&#x0D; Key words: Convalescent plasma therapy; COVID-19, Variants of Concern&#x0D; Citation: Kurniawati EM, Putri IS, Widiatmaja DM, Praba VM, Visuddho 2, Prameswari FU, Zahrani M, Putra FN, Nugraha D, Widiastara AA. Effectiveness of convalescent plasma therapy for COVID-19 patients infected with variants of concerns. Anaesth. pain intensive care 2022;26(4):535-545; DOI: 10.35975/apic.v26i4.1962&#x0D; Received: July 31, 2021; Reviewed: May 17, 2022; Accepted: May 18, 2022

Biomarkers Of CRP, IL-6, And D-dimer Covid-19 Patients That Are Giving Convalence Plasma Therapy – Literature Review

Background: Convalescent plasma therapy is the only antibody-based therapy used to treat COVID-19 Patients. The use of convalescent plasma therapy has been recommended by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a therapy for COVID-19 patients (FDA in Asep, 2020). Several routine biomarker parameters used as indicators in the diagnosis of COVID-19 are CRP, IL-6 and D-Dimer. There was a change between the three biomarker values of CRP, IL-6, and D-Dimer between COVID-19 patients on convalescent plasma therapy and COVID-19 patients who did not receive convalescent plasma therapy. This review article is how effective the use of convalescent plasma as therapy for COVID-19 patients is by looking at changes in the biomarkers of CRP, IL-6 and D-Dimer in patients receiving convalescent plasma therapy.&#x0D; Methode: This literature review uses 3 fulltext articles obtained by combining keywords in an electronic database: Scopus, Cochrane Library, PubMed, and Google Scholar. Articles were eliminated using predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria, then analyzed systematically. The preparation of the discussion uses a systematic analysis based on the themes and topics of discussion obtained in the research article.&#x0D; Conclussions: There were changes in the biomarker values of CRP, IL-6 and D-Dimer in COVID-19 patients who received convalescent plasma therapy and COVID-19 patients who did not receive convalescent plasma therapy.&#x0D; Keywords: D-Dimer level, Interleukin 6 (IL-6) level, C-Reactive protein (CRP) level, plasma konvalesen, dan outcomes pasien COVID-19

Safety and efficacy of convalescent plasma as a therapy for SARS-CoV-2: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background and Aims:The safety and efficacy of convalescent plasma therapy (CPT) in SARS-CoV-2 is promising but intriguing due to heterogeneity of published studies. We conducted this systematic review and meta-analysis of convalescent plasma use in COVID-19 to identify its safety and efficacy.Material and Methods:We comprehensively searched the databases - PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, and the Cochrane Library for journal papers published between December 2019 and January 2021 about the use of CPT in SARS-CoV-2, and performed a meta-analysis using random effects models and assessed the quality of evidence using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) approach.Results:Of 1529 records, 11 studies were eligible (five RCTs, two nonrandomized intervention trials, three prospective observational, and one retrospective), and all were conducted in confirmed patients of SARS-CoV-2. Out of the 11 studies, four investigated the effect of CPT on mortality, three on symptom alleviation, five on duration of hospital stay, four on time to discharge, three on the effect on viral clearance, three on the improvement in antibody titers, two on oxygen requirement, and two on adverse events. The pooled estimate for relative risk of death from SARS-CoV-2 was no different after CPT than control (RR: 0.87, 95% CI: 0.69, 1.10), (p = 0.426) but the relative risk of clinical improvement of symptoms was better after CPT (RR: 1.61, 95% CI: 0.97. 2.70). There was earlier hospital discharge after CPT over control (RR: 1.49, 95% CI: 0.79, 2.80), improved viral clearance (RR: 1.95; 95% CI: 1.07, 3.53), and quicker detection of antibody titer (RR: 1.95; 95% CI: 1.07, 3.53). No difference was observed for adverse effects between CPT and control (RR: 0.92.; 95% CI: 0.63 1.35).Conclusion:CPT appears to be a safe and promising treatment in moderate to severe SARS-CoV-2 leading to faster clinical improvement, reduced oxygen requirement, early hospital discharge, and quicker emergence of protective antibodies despite having no mortality benefit.

Convalescent Plasma Therapy: A Treatment of Choice for COVID-19 during Current Pandemic

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 which is the source of pandemic coronavirus disease 2019 has engulfed almost whole world. This virus was first reported in Wuhan city (China) in December 2019. Since the discovery of the virus, till today the researchers and scientists have been working to develop new vaccines or therapeutic agents against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. However, thus far no vaccine has emerged that can be approved to treat or prevent coronavirus disease 2019. Due to lack of specific preventative and therapeutic options for the treatment of coronavirus disease 2019, the use of convalescent plasma therapy may be of great benefit in the current situation. Previous use of immune plasma has resulted in successful treatment of hemagglutinin type 1 and neuraminidase type 1 influenza virus, Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 1 epidemics. In the current scenario raised by coronavirus disease 2019, the convalescent plasma therapy has been applied successfully among many patients across various regions. This article presents an up-to-date review of existing literature on recovery through convalescent plasma as a treatment of choice, safety and its efficacy, possibility and its challenges for the treatment of coronavirus disease 2019.

Convalescent Plasma Therapy for Covid-19 Patients at RSUP Dr. Wahidin Sudirohusodo Makassar

Background : The use of convalescent plasma therapy (CPT) for COVID-19 patients based on the Plasma convalescent Therapy protocol recommended by the Plasma Convalescent Therapy Team of the Indonesian Ministry of Health.

The Effect of Remdesivir and Convalescent Plasma in Severe COVID-19 in Pregnancy

There are limited data regarding treatment options for pregnant women with severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). However, the use of convalescent plasma therapy and remdesivir in was reported to be successful in the management of a critically ill obstetric patient with novel coronavirus 2019 infection

Use of Convalescent Plasma Therapy for COVID-19: A Scientometric Assessment of Global Publications during 2020-21

Use of Convalescent Plasma Therapy for COVID-19: A Scientometric Assessment of Global Publications during 2020-21

Bioethical perspective of convalescent plasma therapy for COVID-19: A systematic review.

Convalescent plasma therapy (CP) has long been used to prevent and treat various infectious diseases before COVID-19 such as SARS, MERS, and H1N1. Because the viral and clinical characteristics of COVID-19 share the similarities between SARS and MERS, CP treatment could be a promising treatment option to save COVID-19. With only low quality medical evidence, but massive media support and a very significant public demand for the use of convalescent plasma for COVID-19, we are now faced with an ethical dilemma. Therefore, this paper uses a structured analysis that focuses on the preferred reporting items for a systematic review of ethical issues regarding the use of Convalescent Plasma Therapy for COVID-19. The use of convalescent plasma must meet the ethical principles of autonomy; such as voluntary, informed consent, and confidentiality. Consideration of the risk-benefit ratio for potential donor recipients also needs to be considered in order to meet the beneficence and non-maleficence principles. The principle of justice also needs to be applied both to donors, donor recipients and health workers, such as determining the priority of donor recipients, due to the increasing demand for convalescent plasma amid the limited circumstances of patients who have recovered from Covid-19 who voluntarily donate.

A matched cohort study of convalescent plasma therapy forCOVID-19.

IntroductionCOVID‐19, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2), is a public health crisis. Prior studies demonstrated successful use of convalescent plasma therapy for treatment of other viral illnesses. Our primary objective was to evaluate treatment efficacy of convalescent plasma in patients with COVID‐19.Materials and MethodsIn this retrospective matched cohort study, we enrolled recipients of convalescent plasma collected from donors recovered from laboratory‐confirmed SARS‐CoV‐2 infection under the single patient eIND process. We individually matched 35 cases with 61 controls based on age, gender, supplemental oxygen requirements, and C‐reactive protein level at the time of hospital admission. We compared the outcomes of in‐hospital mortality and hospital length of stay between the groups.ResultsIn‐hospital mortality was 20% among the cases and 24.6% among the controls (P = .61). A multivariable logistic regression model that included age, gender, duration of symptoms, need for mechanical ventilation, and pharmacologic interventions revealed no significant difference in mortality by study group (P = .71). The median length of stay was significantly greater among convalescent plasma recipients compared with controls, 10 (IQR, 6‐17) vs 7 (IQR, 4‐11) days, P < .01. The difference was not significant after controlling for covariates (P > .1).ConclusionsWe did not find convalescent plasma reduced in‐hospital mortality in our sample, nor did it reduce length of stay. Further investigation is warranted to determine the efficacy of this treatment in patients with COVID‐19, particularly early in the disease process.

Therapeutic Plasma Exchange Using Convalescent Plasma Replacement Therapy in Severe COVID-19 Infections: A Potential Therapeutic Option

Currently, the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, which is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS CoV-2), is a major global public health emergency. Cytokine storm is a key factor and plays a major role in disease severity and clinical outcome. Recently, the literature reveals the use of therapeutic plasma exchange to reduce the inflammatory markers. Evidence also exists for the use of convalescent plasma therapy in patients with severe COVID-19. This brief communication explores the advantages on therapeutic plasma exchange with convalescent plasma in patients with moderate-to-severe COVID-19.

Clinical Profile and Short-term Outcomes of COVID-19 Patients in a Dedicated Intensive Care Unit of Bangladesh: A Single Centre Experience

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic emerged as a major public health crisis and was confirmed to havespread to Bangladesh since March 2020. A large number of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 pneumoniarequire intensive care for respiratory support due to hypoxic respiratory failure. Bangladesh is greatlyfacing multiple challenges to combat the surging pandemic due to lack of experiences and insufficientmedical resources. Reports describing patients admitted to the ICU with COVID-19 in Bangladesh are verylimited. Objective of this study was to determine the clinical characteristics and outcomes of the COVID-19patients admitted at the dedicated intensive care unit of Kurmitola General Hospital, Dhaka for bettercharacterization of COVID-19 infection in critically ill patients in a resource limited setting. Materials and Methods: All the RT-PCR confirmed COVID-19 patients aged &gt;15 years who had beenadmitted to the dedicated COVID intensive care unit of Kurmitola General Hospital, Dhaka from April2020 to October 2020 were included in this retrospective cross-sectional study. The protocol was approvedby the Ethical and Scientific Committee of the institute. The demographic, clinical and treatment data ofall participants were collected and evaluated and mode of treatments were compared between survivorand non-survivor groups. The statistical analysis was carried out using the Statistical Package for SocialSciences version 22.0 for Windows (SPSS Inc., Chicago, Illinois, USA). Results: A total of 294 critically ill COVID-19 patients were admitted to the ICU of Kurmitola generalhospital between April, 2020 to October, 2020. The mean (±SD) age of the patients was 57.4 (±13.1) years,male participants were predominant (71.1%), 74.5% patients had positive contact history, commonpresenting problems were fever (94.5%), cough (83.6%), dyspnoea (80.9%), diarrhoea (60.2%) and chestpain (42.8%). Frequency of different associated co-morbidities like hypertension (49.3%), diabetes mellitus(50.3%), cardiac diseases (34.0%), renal diseases (17.7%), bronchial asthma (33.3%), COPD (40.1%), CVD(24.1%) and obesity (24.1%) were high. The mean (±SD) length of ICU stay of the patients was 7.0 (±4.1)days; 11.6% patients required mechanical ventilation; 63.6% of ICU patients died and 36.4% recovered inthe specified time period. HFNC was provided to 62.6% patients in survivor group and 56.1% in nonsurvivorgroup, 31% of non-survivor patients required non-invasive ventilator support. Requirement ofmechanical ventilation was significantly higher among the non-survivor group (18.7%) than survivorgroup (p &lt;o.oo1). Use of convalescent plasma therapy was significantly higher in survivor group (29.0%)than the non-survivor group (18.7%) (p=0.043). No significant differences regarding anti-viral, monoclonalantibody and anticoagulant therapy were observed between both groups. Conclusion: This retrospective cross-sectional study represented the clinical characteristics and treatmentoutcomes of the critically ill COVID-19 patients at ICU of Kurmitola General Hospital, Dhaka, Frequencyof positive contact history and presence of co-morbidities were high. Death rate was significantly highamong the patients who required mechanical ventilation. Patients of survivor group were significantlybenefited from convalescent plasma therapy. Larger, multicenter, prospective studies with extendedfollow-up should be conducted to verify the study findings. JBSA 2021; 34(1): 12-19

The Use of In Silico Tools for the Toxicity Prediction of Potential Inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2.

The current strategy for treating the Covid-19 coronavirus disease involves the repurposing of existing drugs or the use of convalescent plasma therapy, as no specific therapeutic intervention has yet received regulatory approval. However, severe adverse effects have been reported for some of these repurposed drugs. Recently, several in silico studies have identified compounds that are potential inhibitors of the main protease (3-chymotrypsin-like cysteine protease) and the nucleocapsid protein of SARS-CoV-2. An essential step of drug development is the careful evaluation of toxicity, which has a range of associated financial, temporal and ethical limitations. In this study, a number of in silico tools were used to predict the toxicity of 19 experimental compounds. A range of web-based servers and applications were used to predict hepatotoxicity, mutagenicity, acute oral toxicity, carcinogenicity, cardiotoxicity, and other potential adverse effects. The compounds were assessed based on the consensus of results, and were labelled as positive or negative for a particular toxicity endpoint. The compounds were then categorised into three classes, according to their predicted toxicity. Ten compounds (52.6%) were predicted to be non-mutagenic and non-hERG inhibitors, and exhibited zero or low level hepatotoxicity and carcinogenicity. Furthermore, from the consensus of results, all 19 compounds were predicted to be non-mutagenic and negative for acute oral toxicity. Overall, most of the compounds displayed encouraging toxicity profiles. These results can assist further lead optimisation studies and drug development efforts to combat Covid-19.

Review of Latest Potential Treatment Modalities in SARS-CoV-2

The ongoing Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) can cause illnesses that vary from asymptomatic or paucisymptomatic conditions to Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) or respiratory failure requiring ventilator support or sepsis and multiple organ dysfunction syndromes. Timely treatment and appropriate management of COVID-19 diseased patients is crucial to curb the morbidity and mortality rates. Much of the research is focused on formulating preventive and therapeutic strategies based on the complex pathophysiology of this disease. New drugs targeting viral entry into host cells, inhibiting viral Proteases, viral RNA Polymerases (RdRp), transport channels, and the drugs with multicentric action, immunomodulators and adjuvants are being researched upon. Other management modalities like regenerative medicine and the use of convalescent plasma therapy have been explored. This review is aimed at the therapeutic aspects of the treatment and management modalities.

Convalescent plasma therapy for COVID-19: a review of old therapy against new disease

Currently, novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a big threat to global health which has revived the potential beneficial effect of ancient convalescent plasma therapy (CPT). This review was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness and adverse drug reactions associated with convalescent plasma therapy in COVID-19 patients, based on articles available to date. PubMed, Google Scholar, Cochrane library, and Hinari databases were searched until 15th September 2020. Every country across the globe today is encountered with a virus that has impacted millions of lives today and for generations to come. Nonetheless recommended antiviral drugs and vaccines are not evident and specified for novel coronavirus disease. This is now very well known that scientists and medical experts across the world are vigilant about recommending the use of CPT and call it an investigational treatment that may help in assisting recovery. The World health organization has perpetuated that there is not enough proof that plasma therapy works in treating those fighting the novel coronavirus. Therefore, convalescent plasma therapy is a feasible and immediate option for alleviating the impact of the disease. Comparing the effectiveness of convalescent plasma therapy with SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, and COVID-19 would help in deriving proper outcomes for COVID-19 infected cases.