Published date: Jun 10 2020

Journal Title: Sudan Journal of Medical Sciences

Issue title: SJMS Special Issue 2020: Competing with COVID-19 in Sudan

Pages: 20-31

DOI: 10.18502/sjms.v15i5.7175

Abdelrahman H. Abdelmoneimabduhamza009@gmail.comFaculty of Medicine, Al-Neelain University, Khartoum, Sudan.

Mujahed I. MustafaDepartment of Biotechnology, University of Bahri, Khartoum, Sudan

Raghda Hatim Abdalhaleem AdlanFaculty of Medicine, Khartoum University, Sudan

Noun Eltayeb Ahmed AbdulgaderAlraqi University Hospital, Khartoum, Sudan

Hiba Awadelkareem Osman FadlFaculty of Medical Laboratory Sciences, AL-Neelain University, Khartoum-Sudan

Nosaiba Kamal AlhassanFaculty of medical laboratory sciences, National Ribat University, Khartoum, Sudan

Sahar G. ElbagerFaculty of Medical Laboratory Sciences, University of Medical Sciences and Technology (UMST), Sudan

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). At the time of writing, neither a cure nor a vaccine has been approved by the World health organization (WHO)  for this disease. Given the fact that the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus  (SARS) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) viruses have a genetic sequencing similar to SARS-CoV-2, and since the use of convalescent plasma therapy (CP) has proved its efficacy in SARS and MERS virus infections, researchers are starting to focus more on it as a possible therapy for the COVID-19 disease. The main objective of this rapid review is to report and summarize the published evidence on the role of convalescent plasma therapy in the current COVID-19 pandemic.

Method: The PICO method was used to establish the review question. Moreover, papers were gathered from PubMed and Google scholar, critically appraised for the best evidence. Piersons 5-component scheme was used to check the quality of the review papers.

Results: After website screening: 10 papers in PubMed and 6 papers from Google scholars were retrieved. There were encouraging reports regarding the uses of CP in the previous viral outbreaks likes SARS and Ebola, yet there is still a doubt on the efficacy of this mode of therapy in the current COVID-19 pandemic.

Conclusion: CP is a very promising treatment approach for COVID-19 patients; however, more clinical trials are required to validate the effectiveness of this therapy.

Keywords: COVID-19, convalescent plasma therapy, SARS-CoV-2, therapy.

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