British doctors have treated a man who had had the corona virus for 411 days. The now 59-year-old man tested positive for the same coronavirus variant for thirteen months, but eventually got better after special treatment.
The doctors write about him in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases. The man had had a kidney transplant in the past and was still struggling with a weak immune system.
In December 2020, the man tested positive for the first variant of the virus. In February 2021 and in January 2022 he tested positive again, and still on the same variant. According to the researchers, it is the same infection that remained in his body for months.
Finally, the man recovered after 411 days. He succeeded after the doctors administered him several antibodies.
It is one of the longest recorded corona infections. A long-term infection is more common in people with a weaker immune system. For example, in April this year, researchers reported another case in which someone tested positive for the virus for 505 days. This person subsequently died.