In the case reported by infectious disease experts at the University Medical Center of Amsterdam in the Netherlands, a 72-year-old man carried the COVID-19 virus in his body for 613 days.
The patient, who is no longer alive, had low immunity and the vaccines he received more than once could not protect him.
According to researchers, the duration of the coronavirus in the body was so long that the virus turned into a new virus that evaded immunity.
According to scientists, this is a good reminder that we will benefit from protecting against COVID-19 and other viral infections by strengthening immunity.
People with compromised immune systems are at much higher risk of contracting COVID-19 and are 13 times more likely to be hospitalized, even if vaccinated three times.
“The duration of SARS-CoV-2 infection in this described case is extreme, but long-term infections are very common in patients with weakened immune systems,” said Magda Vergouwe, a student at the University of Amsterdam Medical Center, and colleagues.
Vergouwe and his team will present the case at the 2024 European Global Congress on Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases later this month.
Because its findings have not yet been peer-reviewed, fewer details have been shared about this case than previous reports of persistent COVID-19 infections lasting hundreds of days.
