Turkey Achieves Major Success in Coronavirus Treatment. Significant progress has been made in treating the coronavirus. Following the applied procedure, a patient’s test returned negative. Prof. Dr. Bülent Aydınlı, Chief Physician at Akdeniz University Hospital, commented on the procedure they applied to the patient. He stated that the convalescent plasma treatment they used on a 78-year-old patient resulted in a negative coronavirus test after the intervention. Professor Aydınlı also noted, “To the best of our knowledge, there is no other case in Turkey where plasma therapy was applied and the test result turned negative.”
In his statement, Professor Aydınlı explained that convalescent plasma taken from a recovered patient, 27-year-old Çağlar Çolak, was transferred to an intensive care patient on April 10, 2020, following the Scientific Committee’s decision. The donor had recovered from coronavirus, and the plasma was used as a potential treatment for a critically ill patient.
Patient Who Received Plasma Transplant Tested Negative
The patient who received the plasma transplant tested negative. Professor Aydınlı reported that the intensive care patient’s coronavirus test returned negative after the plasma transfer. He said the viral load had at least decreased, and described the patient’s condition as stable but intubated, noting that the patient also had another serious comorbidity. Intensive care physicians remain hopeful about the outcome and have extended their thanks to the donor.
Professor Aydınlı added that several centers across Turkey can perform plasma therapy, and that internationally only a small number of patients have converted to negative following such treatment. He emphasized that plasma therapy will continue as long as suitable donors and patients are available. The team indicated they could apply this method to other hospitalized patients in the city’s hospitals as well. The patient who turned negative had previously tested positive on two separate coronavirus tests; notably, after receiving the plasma transfusion, the test taken four days later was negative. This development was described as very encouraging.