Covid-19 infected a 72-year-old man for more than ten months. Making it the longest-ever reported persistent infection with the virus. Academics have described how the guy, Dave Smith, a former driving instructor from Bristol, tested positive for 305 days in a row.
Mr. Smith, who had a reduced immune system as a result of his medical issues, has tested negative for the virus. “Whenever I went bad, I went very bad – down to death’s door,” he told The Guardian.
My wife has begun planning a funeral five times. I invited all the family in to make my peace with them,” he joked. “Right now, I wish I hadn’t said anything.”
In July, he will report his case at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID). Mr. Smith’s infection is the “longest infection known in the research,” according to an abstract.
Mr. Smith was brought to the hospital in May 2020 with a cough and fever, according to experts from the University of Bristol, North Bristol NHS Trust, and Public Health England.
He was discharged after eight days, but he suffered from “severe breathlessness” and “interspersed acute deteriorations linked with fever,” requiring subsequent hospitalizations in August, September, October, and December. The experts pointed out that a trial of daily Remdesivir medication was halted in December 2020 after 17 days of ineffectiveness. Casirivimab and Imdevimab, monoclonal antibodies, were used to treat him subsequently.
In a clinical trial, a mixture of antibodies developed by Regeneron was found to save the lives of some of the sickest Covid-19 patients, however, the treatment regimen has yet to be approved for use in the UK.
The academics noted in the abstract, “We provide a case of persistent Sars-CoV-2 infection in an immunocompromised gentleman who was hypogammaglobulinaemic and lymphopenic with evidence of continued infection after 286 days, the longest infection recorded in the literature to our knowledge.”
The scientists said, “This instance indicates the possible chronicity of Covid-19 infection in immunocompromised persons.” After being admitted with Covid-19, several people have spent long periods in hospitals. However, this does not guarantee that they will test positive throughout their stay.
