Convalescent plasma therapy: A promising solution for SARS-CoV-2 outbreak

Abstract

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) has caused more than 18 million confirmed cases and 700000 deaths worldwide after the outbreak in November 2019 (COVID-19). It has been considered as most pathogenic infection under this category. Till date none of the therapeutics or prophylaxis measures have been claimed by any researcher which could cure the patient suffering from the SARS-CoV-2 infection. There is an urgent need for any alternative and effective way of disease management for COVID-19. However, convalescent plasma therapy (CPT) has gain attention of researchers with significant improvement of patient survival rate. Interestingly, there are numerous examples where CPT has proven its potential upon post-exposure prophylaxis and/or treatment in various diseases including COVID-19. This review summarizes the essential elements related to CPT, its past clinical evidences and application of CPT for the management of SARS-CoV-2 infection during COVID-19. We used the published literatures from PubMed, EMBASE and Medline databases until 31st May 2020.