Researchers from the Netherlands have reported an especially lengthy COVID-19 an infection in a person who died final yr – and warn of the emergence of extra harmful variants of the coronavirus.
The older man, who was immuno-compromised because of earlier diseases, was admitted to a hospital in Amsterdam in February 2022 with a COVID-19 an infection, in line with an announcement.
He was constantly constructive for the coronavirus till his loss of life in October 2023 for a complete of 613 days.
Other circumstances of very lengthy infections in folks whose immune techniques couldn’t adequately battle the virus have beforehand been reported.
The researchers, led by Magda Vergouwe from the University of Amsterdam, plan to current the outcomes at a congress of the European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases in Barcelona on April 27-30.
The case can also be fascinating for researchers as a result of the coronavirus can change notably strongly in individuals who have been contaminated for a very long time. This might result in variants of the virus rising that may extra simply overcome the immune techniques of wholesome folks.
Researchers within the Netherlands repeatedly took samples from the person to research the coronavirus’s genetic materials. They discovered greater than 50 mutations in comparison with the Omicron variant BA.1 that was circulating on the time, together with those who would permit the virus to evade the immune protection. Just 21 days after the person had acquired a sure anti-coronavirus drug, the virus additionally developed indicators of resistance to it.
The man finally died from a flare-up of certainly one of his earlier diseases. As far as is thought, he had not contaminated anybody along with his mutated model of the coronavirus, additionally identified underneath its scientific identify SARS-CoV-2.
This case “highlights the risk of new immune-evasive SARS-CoV-2 variants emerging in immuno-compromised patients,” the researchers say within the press launch.
They warn that the in depth improvement of the virus in a single affected person might result in the emergence of distinctive variants.
It is crucial to carefully monitor the coronavirus’s evolution in immunocompromised people. They added that variants might emerge and unfold in society, which is much less vulnerable to the immune techniques of wholesome folks.
Source: www.dailysabah.com