Covid kills Dutch man after virus mutates 50 times in his body in 613 days

Making it the longest recorded Covid-19 infection, a 72-year-old man died due to a weakened immune system. The patient, who got shots of COVID vaccines before he contacted the infection, saw the virus mutate more than 50 times in his body.

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Researchers found that the Covid virus had mutated over 50 times in the 72-year-old Dutch man's body. (Image: Getty)

In Short

  • The Dutch man was suffering with a blood disease, before he got infected with Covid
  • He got infected with Omicron in February 2022 and died from it in fall of 2023
  • The 72-year-old got infected by Covid despite receiving multiple Covid shots

A Dutch man suffered the longest recorded COVID-19 infection, spanning a staggering 613 days, before he died in the fall of 2023, a study by researchers of the Amsterdam University Medical Center has revealed.

The 72-year-old unnamed man was already suffering with a blood disease, before he got infected with Covid-19 in February 2022, leading to a compromised immune system, reported TIME. The case study of the 72-year-old man will be presented by the researchers at a medical summit in Barcelona next week.

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The researchers found that the virus mutated over 50 times in his body, and finally transformed into an ultra-mutated variant, according to TIME.

The 20-month-long Covid infection, researchers say, is the longest recorded one, surpassing the 505-day infection of a British man who died as well.

Despite receiving multiple doses of Covid-19 vaccines before he got infected with the Omicron variant, the patient's immune system failed to keep up.

The virus, over time, showed a remarkable ability to resist medical interventions, including sotrovimab, a prominent Covid antibody treatment, in just a few weeks of being administered.

SUPER-MUTATED VARIANT OF COVID DIDN'T SPREAD

While the mutant variant did not spread beyond the patient, its emergence shows how the pandemic-causing virus can genetically change, giving birth to new variants of the pathogen.

"This case underscores the risk of persistent SARS-CoV-2 infections in immunocompromised individuals," the authors of the study done on the said patient.

"We emphasise the importance of continuing genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 evolution in immunocompromised individuals with persistent infections,” added the study.

The case study of the 72-year-old man by researchers of the Amsterdam University Medical Center, will be presented at the ESCMID Global Congress in Barcelona next week.

The research also showed that around 24% of American adults who were tested positive for Covid-19 have felt its symptoms for more than three months.

Published By:
Sushim Mukul
Published On:
Apr 19, 2024