The longest COVID-19 infection might have been recorded. This patient, who wanted to remain anonymous for privacy reasons, received proper health care and checkups.
The patient was even treated with antiviral medicines so that the deadly COVID-19 virus can be neutralized. Despite these efforts from medical experts, the individual still tested positive for more than 16 months.
The anonymous individual is one of the participants in a large, long-lasting COVID-19 study, which is handled by the King's College London, as well as the Guy's and St. Thomans' NHS Foundation Trust.
Longest COVID-19 Infection?
According to News.Com AU's latest report, the man, who was infected with COVID-19 for exactly 505 days, died in 2021. Experts stated that the man being immunocompromised is one of the main reasons why he got infected for a very long time.
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Aside from this, he also suffered from other health conditions, which might have worsened his COVID-19 infection. The study stated that their findings show that immunocompromised individuals are highly susceptible to the novel coronavirus.
Dr. Luke Blagdon Snell, one of the doctors involved in the long-lasting COVID-19 research, revealed something alarming about the rare long-duration coronavirus infections.
Why Long-Duration COVID-19 Infections are Alarming
Dr. Snell explained that COVID-19 infections lasting more than the common duration could lead to new variants.
"The virus is still adapting to the human host when people are infected for a long time. It might provide an opportunity for Covid to accrue new mutations," said the health expert.
He added that some of the patients they observed showed mutations similar to some of the concerning COVID-19 strains.
This alarming detail also happened to a South African woman with untreated HIV. Based on the study titled "Persistent SARS-CoV-2 Infection with Accumulation of Mutations in a Patient with Poorly Controlled HIV Infection" revealed that the woman had more than 20 additional mutations.
If you want to see more details about this other research, you can visit this link.
Recently, a new study revealed that COVID-19 remote work could also lead to negative effects.
On the other hand, a new COVID-19 test kit is claimed to detect infection more efficiently and faster than the existing kits.
For more news updates about COVID-19 and other health topics, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.
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Written by: Griffin Davis
