Researchers in the Netherlands reported the case of an extremely prolonged infection with COVID-19 in a man who died last year and warned about the emergence of more dangerous variants of the coronavirus, informs DPA.
The elderly man, who had a weakened immune system due to pre-existing conditions, was hospitalized in Amsterdam in February 2022 with a COVID-19 infection, according to a press release cited by Agerpres.
The patient was tested positive for the coronavirus for 613 days, until the moment of death, in October 2023.
Cases of very prolonged infections have previously been reported in people whose immune systems were unable to adequately fight the virus.
The team of researchers, led by Magda Vergouwe, from the University of Amsterdam, plan to present the results at a congress of the European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, which will take place in Barcelona on April 27-30.
The case is also interesting for researchers from the perspective of the mutations that the coronavirus can undergo in such long-term infected patients. This hides the risk of the emergence of variants of the virus that can more easily defeat the immune system of healthy people.
Researchers in the Netherlands repeatedly collected samples from this man to analyze the genetic material of the coronavirus. They discovered a total of more than 50 mutations compared to the BA.1 variant of Omicron circulating at the time, including some that would allow the virus to bypass the immune barrier. 21 days after the patient was administered a certain anti-coronavirus drug, the virus developed signs of resistance to this treatment.
The man died due to an exacerbation of one of his pre-existing conditions. According to the available data, he did not infect any other person with the mutated version of the coronavirus with which he was infected.
This case ''highlights the risk of new SARS-CoV-2 variants that pass the immune barrier and appear in patients with a compromised immune system''the researchers said in the press release.
The extensive development of the virus in a single patient could lead to the emergence of unique variants, they warned.
It is important to closely monitor the evolution of the coronavirus in people with a compromised immune system. There is a risk of the emergence and spread of variants that are less sensitive to the immune systems of healthy people, they added.
