A corona infection is usually over after two weeks. Not so with Dave Smith (72) from Bristol in the south of Great Britain. The senior had corona for 305 days. An odyssey. In the ten months, the 72-year-old tested positive for Corona 43 times and had to go to hospital seven times.
An ordeal for Smith. He thought that he would die and that Corona would never leave his body again. “I gave up, I called my family, made my peace with everyone, said goodbye,” said the Briton in an interview with the broadcaster BBC. Smith’s wife Linda, who remained in corona quarantine with her husband, said they had had a “hell of a year”.
Lost almost 60 kilograms
It all started in March 2020. At that time, the retired driving instructor was infected with Corona. The disease was bothering him. No wonder: Smith had a lung disease and was just recovering from leukemia. Then Corona came and tied him to the bed. “My energy quickly decreased, I couldn’t lift anything.” Once he had to cough for five hours – “from 5 a.m. to 10 a.m. – non-stop”.
The senior was so weak that he could hardly get up. His body battled the virus and he was losing weight, losing weight – and how. In the end, he was just a pile of misery. From 117 kilograms at the beginning, he only weighed just under 60 kilograms in the end. His wife took care of him during that time.
They both feared, hoped, prayed. But the disease remained. Every corona test was positive. Improvement? Nothing. And the senior was desperate. “I’ve always prayed, ‘The next one is negative, the next one is negative,’ but it never was,” said Smith.
“It’s like getting your life back”
The cure was ultimately brought about by a cocktail of synthetically produced antibodies produced by the US biotechnology company Regeneron. The drug is not approved in the UK. Out of pity, however, an exception was made for Smith. Luckily.
The virus finally disappeared. “It’s like getting your life back,” says Smith, looking back on the recovery. When he finally tested negative for Corona 45 days after taking the Regeneron agent, he and his wife emptied a bottle of champagne. His infection with Corona was more than 300 days ago.
Active viruses in the body
Smith’s case is now also a concern for science. The Bristol infectiologist Ed Moran explained that Smith had “active viruses in his body” throughout his ten-month corona infection.
The analyzes of the virus components in his body had shown that it was not just remnants of the coronaviruses, which had falsely generated positive PCR tests, but rather “active, viable viruses”.
Teaches his granddaughter to drive
Smith’s therapy was not part of an official medical study. His case is now being investigated further by virologist Andrew Davidson from the University of Bristol. In July, a paper on the “longest (corona) infection in the literature” is to be presented at the European Congress for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases.
However, the 72-year-old is still not quite the same. The long corona infection has left its mark. He still suffers from breathlessness today, he explains. But the sprightly pensioner doesn’t let that get him down. He has found new courage to face life. He has already traveled within Great Britain again and is teaching his granddaughter to drive. Smith’s conclusion: “I was down, but everything is great now.” (jmh / AFP)