A CONFERENCE in Spain will hear the longest case of Coronavirus after a man suffered the disease for two years and the disease mutated 50 times in his body.
Next week Barcelona will host the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases international conference.
There, the longest documented case of Coronavirus will be discussed.
A man from the Netherlands had the illness for 613 days before he died.
Photo: Cordon Press
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During this time, the virus mutated 50 times.
The 72-year-old was being treated in the University of Amsterdam Medical Centre from February 2022, according to the Mirror.
He was immunosuppressed due to previous treatment, a factor which complicated his case.
It was also made difficult by post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder.
Due to this, he was taking an anti-cancer medication designed to eliminate B-cells, a key part of the immune system which normally produces Covid antibodies.
Despite receiving multiple vaccinations, they made no effect and he was taken into hospital.
Once there, he received antibody treatment directed against the SARS-CoV-2 virus, called sotrovimab, the antibody anti-IL6 sarilumab and dexametasona.
However, there was no response.
Just 21 days later, researchers discovered the virus developed a mutation resistant to sotrovimab.
They also found the man’s body produced few antibodies in response to the first vaccine, indicating the patient was incapable of eliminating the virus.
Prolonged exposure to the virus led to new variants, found to be immune-evasive.
Finally, the man died as a result of a relapsed blood condition and Covid.
According to researchers, he had been suffering Covid for 613 days.
Thankfully, the mutated version of the virus was not transmitted to anyone else.
During the year and eight months he had the virus, the man went through long periods of isolation, lowering his quality of life during his final days.
Tests carried out after his death revealed the man had suffered 50 mutations of Covid.
Magda Vergouwe, principal author of the study, warned that the case showed the importance of tracking vulnerable people’s wellbeing, whose bodies can be used as ‘hosts’ to develop mutations.
She said: “It could pose a huge threat to public health if viral variants escape into the wider community.
“The duration in this case is extreme, but many prolonged infections are much more common in immunocompromised patients than in the general public.”
