Brite is going through the longest corona infection - immunocompromised people can develop new variants

Created: 04/23/2022, 18:33

In Great Britain, a man has gone through the longest corona infection - a total of 505 days.

So far, the maximum was 335 days. 

London – At 505 days, a Briton had gone through the longest known corona infection until his death.

This is what researchers from King's College London and Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust said.

The maximum value so far was 335 days.

The person in question suffered from an immune deficiency and took part in a study that was intended to provide information on how the virus changes in long-term patients.

The scientists found evidence that new virus variants can develop in immunocompromised patients.

The results are to be presented at an international congress in Lisbon this weekend.

Coronavirus: The infection usually lasts up to two weeks

In people with a functioning immune system, a coronavirus infection usually lasts one to two weeks, according to the researchers.

Even if the virus can still be detected by a PCR test for up to 90 days, it is no longer able to replicate.

This is different for people with a severely weakened immune system, where active infections can last for a long time.

In the UK, a man had Corona for 505 days.

(Iconic image) © Matthias Balk/dpa

As part of the study, nine Covid-19 patients were observed who had a weakened immune system due to other diseases or therapies.

On average, they were infected for 73 days.

In two patients, the infection lasted longer than a year.

"Regular sampling and genetic analysis of the virus showed that five of the nine patients developed at least one mutation present in variants considered to be of concern," the statement said.

Longest corona infection: A patient had ten mutations - according to the study

Ten mutations were found in one patient, which individually occur in worrying variants such as alpha, gamma or omicron.

"This provides evidence that mutations that occur in variants of concern do occur in immunocompromised patients and supports the idea that new variants of the virus may arise in immunocompromised individuals," said Luke Blagdon Snell of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust.

However, it is important to emphasize that none of the patients observed in the study developed a virus variant that has become one of the widespread variants of concern, Snell said.

It is also unclear whether the Alpha, Delta and Omikron variants were created in this way.