COVID-19: WHO warns against the use of convalescent plasma for treatment
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has on Tuesday warned against the use of convalescent plasma in the treatment of COVID-19.
This was contained in a statement titled, ‘WHO recommends against the use of convalescent plasma to treat COVID-19’, where the organisation noted that the procedure does not improve survival or reduce the need for mechanical ventilation.
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“WHO has updated its living guideline on COVID-19 therapeutics to include convalescent plasma. For non-severe COVID-19 patients, WHO recommends against its use, while it should only be used within clinical trials for severe and critical COVID-19 patients.
“Convalescent plasma is a transfusion of blood plasma from someone who has recovered from COVID-19.
“Current evidence shows that convalescent plasma does not improve survival or reduce the need for mechanical ventilation, while it has significant costs.
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“An independent panel of experts, the guidelines development group, looked at pooled data from 16 randomized controlled trials, including 16 236 patients with non-severe, severe, and critical covid-19 infection.
“While the evidence that convalescent plasma has no benefit in non-severe patients was certain, it was less so in the case of severe and critically ill patients. So, randomized clinical trials for these subgroups should continue.”
