A patient who was diagnosed with Covid-19 has finally recovered after 411 days of battling the virus.
Doctors treating the 59-year-old concocted a cocktail of drugs that is now being hailed for aiding his eventual recovery.
Medics in the UK documented the patient's rare lengthy illness in the Journal of Clinical Infectious Diseases and said the patient struggled to rid himself of an early variant.
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It is understood that he had a kidney transplant prior to becoming infected and so had a weakened immune system.
According to medics at Guy’s and St. Thomas’ NHD Foundation Trust, and King’s College of London, the man is believed to be one of the longest-living patients who battled with such a persistent bout of Covid.
In this case, the man first tested positive in December 2020, and although his symptoms went away, he continued to test positive intermittently until January 2022.
Medics analysed the genetics of the strain of the virus he was infected with, and with this information designed a cocktail of neutralising antibodies known to be effective against early coronavirus variants.
It's highly likely that the patient had the original Alpha strain of the virus and so the specific medication finally allowed his body to get rid of Covid.
It was also revealed that another patient being treated by the same team of medical professionals was fighting the illness for 505 days, but has since passed away.
While the variants circulating across the globe now are relatively diluted forms of early strains, Dr. Luke Snell, from Guy’s & St Thomas’ still warns that many remain vulnerable to Covid.
“Some people with weakened immune systems are still at risk of severe illness and becoming persistently infected,” he said. “We are still working to understand the best way to protect and treat them.”
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