In people with a functioning immune system, a coronavirus infection usually lasts one to two weeks, according to the researchers. However, in severely immunocompromised individuals, active infections can last for a long time. There is also the risk that new variants will emerge.
(dpa)
A British corona patient has gone through the longest known corona infection with 505 days until his death. This is what researchers from King’s College London and Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust said. So far, the longest known infection lasted 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 indications that new virus variants can develop in immunocompromised patients, as the release shows. The results are to be presented at an international congress in Lisbon this weekend.
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.
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 that occurred in variants classified as worrying,” the statement said. 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.