This Man Had Covid-19 For Almost 2 Years, So Long It Mutated Into A New Variant

A recent case study from University Medical Center Amsterdam details a troubling development: an immunocompromised 72-year-old man who battled Covid-19 for a record 613 days.

The man, who ultimately succumbed to complications from lymphoma, serves as a reminder of the dangers Covid-19 poses to people with weakened immune systems. Although he was vaccinated, his weakened immune system failed to fully combat the virus, allowing it to mutate and potentially evade future treatments in his body.

This case highlights the importance of protecting vulnerable populations, particularly those with compromised immunity. They face a significantly higher risk of severe illness and hospitalization from COVID-19, even if they are vaccinated.

The report on this patient was prepared by doctoral student Magda Vergouwe, Center for Experimental and Molecular Medicine (CEMM), University Medical Center Amsterdam (Amsterdam UMC), University of Amsterdam, Netherlands, and colleagues.

“This case highlights the risk of persistent SARS-CoV-2 infections in immunocompromised individuals, as unique SARS-CoV-2 viral variants can emerge due to extensive intra-host evolution. We emphasize the importance of continued genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2. “evolution in immunocompromised individuals with persistent infections given the potential public health threat from possible introduction of escape viral variants into the community,” Magda Vergouwe and colleagues said in a statement.

The study highlights how pre-existing conditions and treatments that suppress the immune system can create a breeding ground for long-term infections and potentially new virus variants.

“The duration of SARS-CoV-2 infection in this described case is extreme, but prolonged infections in immunocompromised patients are much more common than in the general community. Other work by our team includes the description of a cohort of prolonged infections in immunocompromised patients of our However, from the perspective of the general public, prolonged infections remain rare because the immunocompromised population represents only a very small percentage of the total population,” the authors said in a statement.