British researchers heal man who had covid for more than 400 days

Researchers in Britain recently cured a man infected with the coronavirus for 411 days, according to a report in Washington Post. The details of his battle with the disease have been published in the peer-reviewed academic journal Clinical Infectious Diseases. The study details the methodology used to help patients clear COVID-19. It also cites the researchers describing how the man survived for more than a year with the virus in him.

The patient in question is 59 years old and has not been identified by name, according to the Washington Post report. The outlet went on to say that the patient had a weak immune system as a result of a kidney transplant and use of an immunosuppressant.

The condition is rare and different from long-term COVID.

The patient contracted COVID-19 in December 2020 and continued to test positive for the virus until January 2022. Ultimately testing negative after genetic sequencing revealed the virus strain he had and the treatment required.

The healthcare experts were stunned and had been investigating how this was possible for so long. The research was led by infectious disease physician Luke Blagdon Snell of Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, who had studied immunocompromised people to understand which mutations occur and whether new variants develop over time.

“When we looked at his virus, it was something that existed long ago — way before Omicron, way before Delta and even before Alpha. So it was one of those older, early variants from the start of the pandemic,” Mr Blagdon said. Snell told Washington Post.

The researchers found that treatments given to the patient were ineffective because he had a previous strain of virus. But once they found the new information, the patient was given the treatment that had been superseded by the new variants, which helped.