ABSTRACT
Background: COVID-19 is an emerging infectious disease, caused by a novel coronavirus, named SARS-CoV-2. It emerged in Wuhan city, Hubei province, China in December 2019. Convalescent plasma (CP) has been used in a number of emerging infections for which there are no proven antivirals, including SARS, MERS, and Ebola virus disease (EVD). It may also be a potentially effective treatment strategy for COVID-19 disease before COVID-19 vaccinations was introduced. In this case report, we described a case of a 59 years old lady with no known medical illness or no known drug allergies and she was diagnosed with Covid-19 with Class 4A (requiring nasal prong) on 8/10/2020, her oxygen saturation was 96% under nasal prong. During her initial admission, she was given favipravir and interferon as alternative treatment for Covid-19. Unfortunately, at 3rd day of illness, her oxygen level deteriorated to 94% under nasal prong (72% from arterial blood gas) thus, she was transferred to intensive care unit for non-invasive ventilation support. The next day, she was intubated as her condition worsen. On 5th day of illness, she was transfused with convalescent plasma and subsequently extubated as she improved clinically. Aims: To evaluate the effectiveness of convalescent plasma in treating a case of category 5 Covid-19 patient at Hospital Tuanku Ja'afar. Methods: The data regarding the patient's clinical information was retrospectively collected from the patient case notes and the laboratory information system. Results: Other than clinically improved, we noted the CT value from tracheal aspirate PCR prior to the transfusion was 24.60 while the CT value 48 h post transfusion showed 31.62. This showed that the patient had clinical improvement post convalescent plasma transfusion. Summary/Conclusions: Convalescent plasma should be considered in treatment of Covid-19.