Scientists from King’s College London found that the longest known COVID-19 infection is 505 days.
The patient tested positive for COVID-19 505 days before the death. The previous longest known PCR confirmed case is thought to be 335 days.
The research was presented at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases and was conducted by Dr. Luke Blagdon Snell et al.
In the study, the team tested nine immunocompromised patients who tested positive for the virus for at least eight weeks.
Infections persisted for 73 days, on average, but two patients had persistent infections for more than a year.
The patients, who were studied between March 2020 and December 2021, had weakened immune systems due to organ transplantation, HIV, cancer, or medical therapies for other illnesses.
The team showed that five of the nine patients developed at least one mutation seen in variants of concern.
Some individuals developed multiple mutations associated with variants of concern, such as the Alpha, Delta, and Omicron variants.
The virus from one individual contained 10 mutations that would arise separately in variants of concern, such as the Alpha, Gamma, and Omicron variants.
Five of the nine patients survived. Two of those five cleared SARS-CoV-2 infection without treatment, two cleared the infection after treatment with antibody therapies and antivirals, and one individual has an ongoing infection.
At their last follow-up in early 2022, the patient with ongoing infection had been infected for more than one year (412 days).
At their last follow-up in early 2022, the patient with ongoing infection had been infected for more than one year (412 days).
The person has been treated with monoclonal antibodies to try to clear their infection.
If this person remains positive at their next follow-up appointment, they will likely pass the previous longest known infection of 505 days described in this report.
The team says immunocompromised patients with persistent infection have poor outcomes, and new treatment strategies are urgently needed to clear their infection.
This may also prevent the emergence of variants.
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