Egypt has begun clinical trials for a new coronavirus (COVID-19) treatment, according to Ministry of Health sources told local media on Sunday.
In the trials, blood plasma has been taken from Covid-19 recoveries and injected to patients currently undergoing hospital care.
The ministry has reportedly collected blood samples from two people who have recovered from the virus. The clinical trial will take antibodies found in the recovered patients’ blood, and transfer them to those patients currently fighting the disease.
Medical experts emphasised that blood plasma contain antibodies to a disease or virus for a set period of time. To gain maximum benefit from these antibodies, blood transfusions should be conducted no more than one month from the patient’s recovery.
Plasma is a fluid in blood that teems with antibodies following an illness, with studies already showing that it is effective in treating infectious diseases, including Ebola and SARS. Similar plasma treatments have also been successful against various other diseases such as measles, chickenpox and the 1918 influenza pandemic.
Many countries have already started clinical trials using blood plasma in treating coronavirus patients, including the US, China, France, the UAE, and India.
Earlier this month, China tested the plasma treatment on 10 acute patients suffering from the coronavirus. The cases have significantly improved since then, compared to other acute patients who did not receive the treatment.
Egypt’s Ministry of Health has changed two of the drugs used in its coronavirus treatment protocols, ministry sources told local news outlet on Sunday.
The ministry has replaced chloroquine phosphate with chloroquine magnesium, following reports of side effects in the former. The antibiotic used in the treatment has now been replaced with a stronger one, the medical source added, without disclosing further information.
In April, Egypt received samples of the Japanese anti-viral flu drug, Avigan, to test as a possible treatment for the coronavirus.
