Govt of India revised clinical guidelines for COVID-19 treatment on Monday
It dropped the plasma therapy from COVID-19 management guidelines
Because, convalescent plasma was found not beneficial in reducing the progression to severe disease or death
The development came after a meeting of the ICMR-National Task Force
Previous guidelines recommended off-label use of plasma therapy at the stage of early moderate disease
This was allowed within seven days of the onset of symptoms and if there was a high titre donor plasma
Early evidence indicates possible emergence of variants with lower susceptibility to neutralising antibodies in immunosuppressed people
This may cause more virulent strains to develop due to irrational use of plasma therapy
