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Man had rare Covid infection that lasted 613 days, showed extensive mutations

  • Cases like this increase the risk of more dangerous coronavirus variants emerging, researchers say
  • The patient eventually died from a flare-up of a previous illnesses and is not known to have infected anyone with his mutated Covid-19 strain

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Coronavirus particles are seen in a scanning electron micrograph of a heavily infected cell. Image: NIAID via TNS
Researchers from the Netherlands have reported an extremely long Covid-19 infection in a man who died last year – and warn of the emergence of more dangerous variants of the coronavirus.

The elderly man, who was immunocompromised due to previous illnesses, was admitted to a hospital in Amsterdam in February 2022 with a Covid-19 infection, according to a statement.

He was continuously positive for the coronavirus until his death in October 2023 for a total of 613 days.

Other cases of very long infections in people whose immune systems were unable to adequately fight the virus have previously been reported.

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