A 53-year-old man battling COVID-19, who was the first to receive plasma taken from a recovered patient, succumbed at the Lilavati Hospital in Bandra. His death surfaced on a day when Mumbai recorded 20 more fatalities, pushing the death toll to 290.
The city also recorded 417 new cases of the virus on Thursday, taking the overall tally to 7,061.
The plasma recipient was critical and on ventilator support since April 21. On April 25, he was transfused with one unit of plasma donated by a patient who had recovered from the disease. While the convalescent plasma therapy trial has been started at civic-run Nair hospital, the plasma was given to the 53-year-old man on compassionate grounds.
Doctors said that they saw some improvement in his parameters for 24 hours but he had developed septicaemia which eventually led to his death on Wednesday night. “The improvement was extremely marginal, nothing that we can talk about,” Dr. Jalil Parkar from Lilavati Hospital said.
Nair hospital has collected plasma from seven donors so far. However, they are yet to administer it to other patients. The plasma of recovered patients is rich in antibodies which may be helpful in treating patients battling the infection. A doctor said plasma therapy is a trial and the patients have to meet the criteria before they are given the therapy.
Of the 20 fatalities, 16 patients suffered from co-morbid conditions like diabetes, hypertension and asthma. Civic officials said 14 victims were men and six were women. While 12 victims were in the age group of 40 to 60, eight were above 60 years.
Till Thursday, 1,472 patients from Mumbai had gone home after recovery.
Source: https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/mumbai/mumbai-breaches-7000-mark-290-dead/article31477209.ece
