A conference in Spain will hear about the longest-standing case of the coronavirus, in which a man suffered from the disease for two years and the disease mutated 50 times in his body.
The international conference of the European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases will be held next week in Barcelona.
There, the longest recorded coronavirus cases will be discussed.
The Dutch man had the disease for 613 days before dying.
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Photo: Cordon Press
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During this time, the virus mutated 50 times.
The 72-year-old had been receiving treatment at Amsterdam University Medical Center since February 2022, according to the Mirror.
He was immunosuppressed from previous treatment, which was a complicating factor in his case.
It was also complicated by post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorders.
Because of this, he was taking anti-cancer drugs designed to eliminate B cells, a key part of the immune system that normally produce coronavirus antibodies.
He received multiple vaccinations, but they were ineffective and he was taken to the hospital.
Once there, he received an antibody treatment against the SARS-CoV-2 virus called sotrovimab, the anti-IL6 antibody sarilumab, and dexamethasona.
But there was no response.
After just 21 days, researchers discovered that the virus had mutated to make it resistant to sotrovimab.
It was also found that the man’s body produced few antibodies in response to the initial vaccine, indicating that the patient was incapable of eliminating the virus.
Long-term exposure to the virus has resulted in new variants that have been found to be immune-evasive.
In the end, the man died from a recurring blood disease and the coronavirus.
Researchers say he had been infected with the coronavirus for 613 days.
Thankfully, the mutated virus did not infect other people.
During the 18 months he was infected with the virus, the man experienced long periods of isolation, and his quality of life deteriorated in his final days.
Tests conducted after his death revealed that the man had 50 mutations of the coronavirus.
Magda Vergoue, lead author of the study, said the incident showed the importance of tracking the health of vulnerable people whose bodies could be used as “hosts” for mutations. I warned you that
She said: “If variants of the virus leak into wider society, they could pose a major threat to public health.
“Although the duration in this case is extreme, many long-term infections are much more common in immunocompromised patients than in the general population.”
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