A British man was finally cured of Covid-19 after being infected for 411 days, longest recorded in a survivoraccording to his doctors.
The unidentified 59-year-old kidney transplant patient was infected for the first time in December 2020and regularly tested positive until January of this yearaccording to a study in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.
His doctors believe he was infected for the entire 13-month period, even though he had three hits.
The investigator Luca Snellan infectious disease expert at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust in London, said the only infection longest known duration (505 days) it was in someone who died.
The case denounced in the last few hours «is certainly the longest we have found in a survivor, “Snell told the Telegraph.
Although it is not possible to be certain that it was the longest infection in the world, as not all people undergo diagnostic tests or as regularly as in this case, there are no records from anyone who has had the disease for so long.
The patient had persistent covidwhich is different from what is normally called long Covid, in which patients continue to be negatively affected while they are no longer infected.
Such cases occur in a small number of patients with already weakened immune systems, including the British anonymous who first tested positive. after receiving a new kidney.
These patients can test positive for months or even years with the infection. “Booming all the time”Snell told the AFP agency.
Infections can pose a serious threat because about half of patients also have persistent symptoms, such as lung inflammation, She said. Although the patient was never hospitalized for the disease, he tested positive for COVID multiple times during his necessary outpatient appointments to monitor his kidney transplant, according to the study.
When Snell’s team finally started healing him, they performed too a complex genetic analysis which showed it had one of the initial variants, one long ago replaced by other mutations.
Persistent Covid-19 and long Covid-19: differences
“In the long run of Covid it is generally assumed that the virus has been cleared from the body, but the symptoms persist,” Snell explained. “In persistent infection, this represents continuous and active replication of the virus.”.
In every test the researchers put on patients, they analyzed the genetic code of the virus to make sure it was the same strain and that people didn’t have Covid-19 more than once. Anyway, genetic sequencing showed that the virus changed over time, mutating as it adapted.
The mutations were similar to those that later developed into the diffuse variants, Snell said, although none of the patients generated any new mutations that became troubling variants. Furthermore, there is no evidence that they have spread the virus to others.
The person with the infection known the longest tested positive in 2020, was treated with the antiviral drug remdesivir, and died in 2021. Investigators did not specify the cause of death, but made it clear that the patient had other illnesses.
Researchers are confident that more treatments will be developed to help people with persistent infections defeat the virus.
We must be aware that there are some people who are more susceptible to these problemssuch as persistent infections and severe illnesses, “Snell said.
Though cases of persistent infection are rareExperts say there are many people with weak immune systems who are vulnerable to severe Covid-19 and who have been trying to stay safe since governments lifted restrictions and people started removing masks. And it’s not always easy to know who they are, said Dr. Wesley Long, a pathologist at the hospital. Houston Methodistof Texas, who was not involved in the research.
Source: Clarin
