Covid: Learn more about persistent cases of the disease that have baffled experts

According to a study, 8% of people infected with the virus can remain sick for more than two months. (photo: EBC)

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Infectologist Luke Snell, a doctor at Guy’s and St Thomas’ hospitals, linked to the UK’s health service, accompanied a patient who had not been able to get rid of covid for 411 days. The 59-year-old – now recovered – lived through the delicate situation due to a previous health issue: Previously, he had undergone a kidney transplant. It is a procedure that necessarily requires weakening the body’s defense system to avoid rejection.

This patient, in particular, had a very mild illness. So contained that a lot of people won’t even notice they’re infected. “It was something like a runny nose, it could be anything but it was coronavirus,” Snell says.

The case is getting attention because cases of COVID-19 generally end in a short period, close to two weeks, and examples of persistence are unknown—especially over such a long period. A Brazilian study, conducted by researchers from the Pasteur-USP scientific platform, indicated that only 8% of infected people can display the disease in the body for more than two months.

In the case of the UK patient, the disease was initially identified in December 2020. He remained positive for the virus until January 2022 — when he was treated with a monoclonal antibody cocktail (made in a lab) by Regeneron, the same one used by the former US president. Donald Trump. This is now invalid due to the loss of power in the face of the new variants.

“It is a sensitive thing to treat someone who spends a lot of time with COVID-19. It is difficult to ask someone to stay at home in isolation for 411 days. In general, we recommend that these people wear masks, wash their hands, and take other measures.” To prevent disease,” says the infection specialist.

The expert explains that such images matter more to the patient concerned than the variable in the circulatory system. Hence, it represents a difficulty in the immune system of the individual in fighting off the disease. Although it is not a common image, it is possible that this type of pathological behavior is more prevalent than one would imagine, Snell believes.

The case of a transplanted man is the longest in which the patient survives infection, according to the doctor’s opinion. The disease was caused by an earlier variant of Alpha, which broke out in the UK in 2020. Also in the study cohort of which the specialist is part, another very long covid case was identified: the patient lived with the disease for 505 days but died in 2021 .

I study in Brazil

There is at least one case of COVID-19 that has been studied in Brazil. This is a patient with a total of 232 days of infection. He also has a positive HIV diagnosis – but his tests and medications are up to date. The painting has been studied by researchers from Pasteur-USP.

“We followed patients throughout the entire first wave of Covid-19. We determined that about 8% had atypical (long-term) behavior for the disease. After we published this material, we received letters from several people who reported being positive (for a long time). These patients were have immune problems.

Salmo Raskin, a geneticist and director of the Gentica Laboratory in Curitiba, explained that although rare, cases of this type are very important to follow. Precisely because I think they could be shortcuts to the emergence of more potent variants, like Omicron, that caused disease transmission to peak.

“These are rare cases. Generally, either the person kills the virus or the virus kills the person. With defects in the immune system, it can’t fight off the virus, and so it’s able to change its genetic code. It’s like doing inside the body what it does in the body,” Raskin says. Air, in terms of mutations. For him, the main premise of explaining micron is such a case, because “the lineage is not derived from the previous alpha, delta, gamma, and beta.” These cases must be monitored.”

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