The longest Covid-19 case lasted 776 days

In a study recently published in the scientific journal The Lancet: Microbe, doctors in the US have just recorded the longest-lasting Covid-19 infection case ever, with an infection time of up to 776 days.

The above case shows that a weakened immune system can allow the SARS-CoV-2 virus to survive, mutate and adapt in ways that rarely happen in healthy people.

Medical experts at Boston University said the patient was a 41-year-old man with HIV. He began experiencing symptoms of cough, headache, and fatigue in mid-May 2020, shortly after coming into close contact with a Covid-19 case.

It was not until September 2020, when his health condition became serious and he had to be hospitalized, that he was officially diagnosed with Covid-19.

Prolonged Covid-19 cases show how dangerous it is when the virus attacks a body with a severely weakened immune system.

Illustration: AI

This patient was infected with HIV/AIDS in 2002, but did not adhere to antiretroviral treatment to suppress HIV and preserve immune function. Because he did not take the medication regularly, his immune system was severely weakened, unable to create a strong enough response to eliminate SARS-CoV-2.

Over the months, the virus in his body had developed a series of mutations, including some similar to Omicron. While these changes created a unique mix of strains in the patient’s body, it did not appear to spread, perhaps because it had become so well adapted to his immune environment.

Notably, PCR tests continued to come back positive until his death after 776 days of being infected. Even two days before his death, the PCR test was still positive for SARS-CoV-2, according to the science news site IFL Science.

Doctors say that in these long-haul Covid cases, a complex medical history and a weakened immune system are often key factors. At the same time, these special cases can also become "incubators" for new variants with many mutations.

In April 2024, doctors in the Netherlands reported a 72-year-old immunocompromised male patient who was infected with Covid-19 for 613 days. In 2022, another patient at a hospital in London (UK) also tested positive for Covid-19 for 505 days before passing away.

While most healthy patients only contract Covid-19 for a few days to a few weeks, the unusually prolonged cases show how dangerous it can be when the virus attacks a body with a severely weakened immune system, according to IFL Science.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/ca-mac-covid-19-lau-nhat-keo-dai-776-ngay-185250916214012368.htm