MARGAO
The 568-bedded South Goa district hospital, the major Covid hospital, has added another treatment in the management of the diseases “ administering antibody cocktail to patients.
As many as three patients have so far received the antibody cocktail since the hospital introduced the therapy on elderly co-morbid patients during the weekend.
The weekend saw two patients, both males in their 60s and 70s, receiving the antibody treatment of Casirivimab/ Imdevimeb. The third patient, a 70-year old, received the cocktail on Tuesday. All three patients are stabled and responding to the therapy.
The hospital Nodal Officer, Dr Rajesh Patil, said the cocktail was administered to an elderly RT-PCR positive Covid patient of 70 years who was hypertensive and was in the second day of onset of symptoms.
The second patient was a 64-year old RT-PCR positive with operated colonic cancer on chemoradiation. Both patients tolerated monoclonal antibody infusion and are under close observation, he said.
“Monoclonal antibodies act by attaching to spike protein of coronavirus preventing the virus from entering and infecting the cells. This can help the body to overcome the virus infection and help the patient to recover faster,” he said.
Dr Patil added, “Antibody cocktail is used in patients above 45 yrs of age with comorbidities such as diabetes mellitus, chronic kidney disease, ischemic heart disease, immunocompromised state which are at high risk of developing severe Covid-19 infection.
The two patients are under the supervision of Dr Iona Barretto and Dr Ragoba Gaonkar.
Dr Patil informed the third patient, who received the treatment, is a 70-year-old woman with mild Covid infection on chronic immunosuppressant medication. “Since she is on immunosuppressant medication, it was decided to administer her the antibody cocktail so that her condition does not become worse,” he said.
Healthcare workers pointed out that the antibody cocktail needs to be administered only to patients with mild to moderate Covid-19 infection who are at high risk of progressing to severe Covid-19, including those having comorbidities such as diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, chronic kidney, liver or lung problems and cancers or those above 65 years.
