As the use of the drugs hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine as treatment for the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has not been approved by the World Health Organization (WHO), local health authorities are in talks on using different methods in treating patients with the virus including the use of plasma.
This was disclosed by Deputy Chief Medical Officer (DCMO), Dr Karen Gordon-Boyle last week, during a telephone interview with Stabroek News. The DCMO when asked about the use of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine as treatment stated that the Ministry of Public Health is waiting on the WHO to come up with a standard of treatment for the virus.
With that she noted that they have so far been providing supportive therapy for those persons who have tested positive for the disease. “I believe with some patients, they may have looked at the possibility, especially with those towards to end, to try something, anything… because other than that we know we’re gonna lose them” she explained.
Additionally, she said that health authorities in Guyana would be open to trying therapy that has been used widely in other places like the United States. Dr Gordon-Boyle went on to say that they are looking at the use of the plasma of persons who would have recovered from the disease. “The plasma of such persons would be rich in antibodies and that can possibly help someone who is struggling to have enough antibodies,” the DCMO said.
“… this has been used in some countries and there’s a possibility that we can explore it,” Dr. Gordon-Boyle told Stabroek News while adding that they are in discussions with the WHO and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) on protocols and how it should be done even as she explained that it is a “promising therapy” only for persons who critically need the boost. “Eighty one per cent of the patients will recover on their own, it’s the small percentage that may need help and this is one way in possibly doing it if they’re in agreement to trying it,” she said.
Meanwhile, during a separate interview yesteday, PAHO representative, Dr William Adu-Krow said that the WHO has said that so far, plasma can only be used on an experimental basis as WHO has not given any approval for the use of antibody treatment via plasma as treatment. “’Cause it has not been shown to be effective… it has been shown that the more severe the disease of COVID, the more antibodies you have that are protective,” Dr Adu-Krow explained.
With that he added that the WHO has often said that once it knows that certain operations have not gone through clinical trials, it will not tell persons to use the methods.
“I think PAHO/WHO is going to tell the country that, yes, it’s been approved, [but] only for experimental research use ‘till such a time that we can do clinical trials to verify,” the PAHO representative said while adding that there are ongoing trials. However, he reiterated that it has only been approved for research trials, which the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation may be joining.
“If the hypothesis is true that the less severe the condition, the weaker the antibodies, we don’t know,” he added while noting that these are all questions that are coming up and as such it must go through a number of random clinical trials for WHO to approve its use as treatment.
