Abstract
Every country in the world is currently facing one big problem, COVID-19. When it comes to handling this issue, vaccination is the most effective way to prevent further infection. Meanwhile, medical treatment is required for those already infected. Convalescent blood plasma is considered to be an effective treatment, yet there is a gap between numbers on how many donors were needed and its availability. PLUSME is created to make ends meet by connecting recipients and donors through the application and creating a database for future potential donors with the Indonesian Red Cross (IRC). The concept of this application is expected to fill the gap in the convalescent plasma donor process and give ease of access for those who need to take part in this action.
Keywords: COVID-19, convalescent plasma donor, PLUSME application
Introduction
Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by a coronavirus that was first discovered in Wuhan, China (Unicef, 2020). China reported the presence of the coronavirus to the World Health Organization (WHO) on December 31, 2019 (WHO, 2020). The most common symptoms of COVID-19 are fever, tiredness, and dry cough. Some patients may have aches and pains, nasal congestion, runny nose, or sore throat. These symptoms are usually mild and begin gradually(WHO, 2020). According to Wang, Lang, Wenbo H., Xiaoimei Y., Dalong H., Mingwei B., Huafen L. et al. (2020), high proportion of severe to critical cases and high fatality rate were observed in the elderly COVID-19 patients.
COVID-19 has hit all parts of the world, including Indonesia. The Novel Coronavirus Disease has entered its second wave in Indonesia, and the number of infection cases is increasing day by day. Until August 5 2021, positive cases of COVID-19 in Indonesia reached 3,500,000 people, where Indonesia is currently the country with the highest positive cases in Southeast Asia. This condition is exacerbated by the total COVID-19 testing in Indonesia, which is still far from the standards of the World Health Organization (Detik, 2020).
One of the problems faced by Indonesia in dealing with COVID-19 is the lack of reliable access to provide information, including access to convalescent plasma donors (BBC Indonesia, 2021). Whereas, plasma donors can help cure COVID-19 patients. The use of convalescent plasma (CP) therapy as an additional treatment for this condition has been suggested. According to Putera and Hardianti (2020), this method has been tried to treat Ebola, the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), and severe acute respiratory coronavirus (SARS-CoV) infections, with good outcomes in multiple studies. The goal of convalescent plasma therapy is to reduce viral load, cytokine response, and mortality. It can be concluded that convalescent plasma therapy shows promise to COVID-19 patients.
Not only that, according to Maulana, Muhammad (2020), Convalescent blood plasma can reduce mortality in Covid-19 patients compared to therapies that are still being testet. Blood Plasma Convalescent Administration can help shorten hospitalizations and reduce mortality in Covid-19 patients.
Many COVID-19 patients were trying to look for blood plasma donors due to a lack of special containers (BBC, 2021). Indonesian people who are exposed to the COVID-19 virus are still finding it difficult to get access to convalescent plasma donors.
With that condition, there are many people trying to find convalescent plasma donors through social media like Instagram, Twitter, and broadcast messages. In addition, the need for convalescent plasma transfusion is currently one of the things that is difficult to obtain. The requirements for donors are, healthy, have recovered from COVID-19, 18-60 years old, weigh more than 55 kilograms, preferably male, symptom-free for 14 days after recovery and has a Covid-free certificate, (PMI, 2021). Convalescent plasma transfusion is an additional therapy for COVID-19 patients by providing immunity or passive immunity through the administration of immunoglobulins with convalescent plasma from COVID-19 survivors who meet the criteria as donors (Indonesian Ministry of Health Research and Development Agency, 2020).
Therefore, the authors proposed the "PLUSME: Application for Convalescent Plasma Donor Based on Digital Database for Covid-19 Patient Treatment". PLUSME is one solution to make it easier for people to get access to convalescent plasma donors. This application provides information on the number of convalescent plasma donors available at the nearest IRC so that people do not need to mobilize to the IRC main hub. This application also provides data on people who fit the criteria for donors so that someone in need can immediately get convalescent plasma donors.