Longest ever case of Covid lasted 613 DAYS and turned into ultra-mutated ... trends now
A Dutch pensioner had the longest lasting Covid infection ever recorded – at 613 days.
Whereas most people can expect to shake off the virus in days or weeks, the 72-year-old had a weakened immune system and eventually died with his infection.
The virus mutated around 50 times and eventually spawned an ultra-mutated variant, according to scientists.
They warned such cases are perfect breeding grounds for deadly new strains of the disease to develop.
However, separate NHS data released today shows Covid cases in hospital are also rising, up more than a third in the last four weeks. There were 3,390 virus patients in hospital on December 17, up 38 per cent on the 2,452 logged on November 19. This is also an increase of 12 per cent in a week from the 3,024 logged on December 10
The patient was admitted to Amsterdam University Medical Centre in February 2022 with the omicron variant of Covid.
He had a history of blood cancer and had received treatment that depleted B-cells, including those that normally produce Covid directed antibodies.
Despite receiving several Covid vaccines, he had little antibody response when tested upon hospital admission and did not respond to antibody treatments.
But researchers found the virus developed a sotrovimab-resistance mutation as early as 21 days after receiving the antibody.
They also noted that anti-spike antibody development in the first month was minimal, indicating that the patient's immune system was incapable of clearing the virus.
The prolonged infection led to the emergence of a novel, immune-evasive variant of the virus due to its extensive evolution within a host. He eventually died from a relapse of a condition in his blood.
Presenting their findings at ESCMID Global Congress in Barcelona next week, researchers said he had
