A Dutch Man Was Infected With COVID-19 For?613 Days, Virus Mutated Inside Him 50 Times

How long does a COVID-19 infection last? In most of the cases, those infected with COVID-19 recovered within a week or two. In some more complicated cases, the recovery took a few weeks. However, researchers from the Netherlands have reported an extremely long COVID-19 infection in a man who died last year.

REUTERS

Longest COVID infection

According to reports, the unidentified 72-year-old man was infected with COVID-19 for 613 days, until his death.

Reports of the study presented at the ESCMID Global Congress in Barcelona, Sapin said that this was the longest-known case of chronic SARS-CoV-2 infection.

The man had received multiple COVID-19 vaccinations but his immune system had failed to mount a sufficiently protective response against the virus, which often happens in older people and immunocompromised individuals, the study noted.

AFP

Patient was immunocompromised

The man previously had a stem cell transplant and later developed lymphoma, requiring treatment that destroyed the white cells responsible for producing virus-neutralizing antibodies.

"The duration of SARS-CoV-2 infection in this described case is extreme, but prolonged infections in immunocompromised patients are much more common compared to the general community," Amsterdam University Medical Center medical student Magda Vergouwe said in a statement.

Virus mutated 50 times

The study further noted that genomic surveillance revealed the man was initially infected in February 2022 with the Omicron BA.1.17 variant. But within weeks of treatment, the virus mutated to become resistant to treatment.

AFP

Between February 2022 and September 2023 nasal and throat swabs collected from the patient were genome sequenced 27 and they found that the virus had accumulated an extra 50 mutations compared to Omicron BA.1 variants circulating at the time.

This included deletions in one end of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, suggesting the virus could escape the immune system.

Risk of long COVID-19 infection

¡°This case underscores the risk of persistent SARS-CoV-2 infections in immunocompromised individuals as unique SARS-CoV-2 viral variants may emerge due to extensive intra-host evolution,¡± study authors said. ¡°We emphasise the importance of continuing genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 evolution in immunocompromised individuals with persistent infections given the potential public health threat of possibly introducing viral escape variants into the community.¡±

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