One COVID-19 patient in the UK tested positive for 16 months until his deaththe longest-known case of infection, according to a study on the evolution of the virus in immunosuppressed patients released Friday.

The patient, whose identity was not released, first positive in mid -2020 and had breathing problems. He continued to be positive on all tests (about 45) until his death, After 505 days, Dr. explained. Gaia Nebbia, co-author of the study, at AFP.

This is the longest known case of covid-19 infection, according to a statement from the European Congress of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, to be held in Lisbon from April 23 to 26 and where the full study will be shown.

The study, conducted by researchers at King’s College London and Guy’s and St Thomas Hospital in Londonevaluated nine immunocompromised patients with persistent infection by the virus between March 2020 and December 2021.

All tested positive for at least eight weeks and two tested positive for more than a year.

Of the nine patients, four died and four recovered. The ninth patient was still infected in early 2022, 412 days after the first test positive.

“Immunocompromised patients with persistent infection there is little chance of survivaland new treatment techniques are urgently needed to stop their infection, ”Nebbia explains.

The study aimed to investigate coronavirus mutations in patients infected for several months.

“We wanted to identify viral evolution in these individuals who may accumulate mutations during their ongoing infection. This is one of the hypotheses of the emergence of variants“said the doctor.

According to estimates from the British Office for National Statistics (ONS) published on Friday, 38.5 million people had covid-19 in England between the end of April 2020 and mid -February 2022, i.e., 70% of the population.

mental health and covid

Meanwhile, the magazine “The Lancet Public Health” published two new studies that found that more stringent anticovid measures, often implemented to control rather than eliminate the virus, were associated with slightly worse mental health conditions.

Experts of various nationalities, who used data from 15 countries taken between April 2020 and June 2021, found that the mental health impact associated with lockdowns is more severe for women and of women living in households with children who depend on men of all ages.

At the national level, countries seeking to eliminate community transmission of the virus within their borders (“eliminators”) experienced fewer deaths and better mental health trendsl during a pandemic than in countries that sought to control it (“mitigators”).

During the pandemic, governments used a variety of strategies to curb transmission, although the measures used were not homogeneous and some focused on plans to achieve zero transmission -South Korea or Japan- while others -France or Spain- sought to slow the transmission. integration of confinement and other regulations, such as the use of masks or the ban on social gatherings.

“The government’s responses to the pandemic have been widely debated. At first glance, it may seem that ‘eliminator’ countries have implemented more brutal strategies than others because of their ban on travel abroad, but in realitypeople within those boundaries enjoyed more freedom in general than ‘mitigator’ countries, ”said Lara Aknin of Simon Fraser University of Canada, author of the first study.

With information from the AFP and EFE