Man dies after record 613-day infection with COVID-19, researchers say

AMSTERDAM (Gray News) – A man in Amsterdam died after a record 613-day infection with COVID-19, researchers said.

The case was highlighted in a news release from the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) on Thursday.

According to the news release, the 72-year-old man was immunocompromised and had received multiple COVID-19 vaccinations before he caught the virus.

The man was considered immunocompromised because he had a history of blood disorders and had previously received stem cell transplants.

He was admitted to Amsterdam University Medical Center in February 2022 with COVID-19.

The 72-year-old’s immune system was “not capable of clearing the virus,” researchers said, and the virus became a “highly mutated” variant within his body.

Ultimately, the virus caused a multitude of problems for the patient. He died from a relapse of his blood disorder after remaining positive for COVID-19 with “high viral loads” for a total of 613 days – totaling more than 1 year and 8 months.

This is believed to be the longest COVID-19 infection to date, although several cases of hundreds of days have been previously documented.

Researchers said this case highlights the risk that COVID-19 poses to immunocompromised people, saying that long term infections could lead to an increased number of mutations of the virus.

It is believed that the initial emergence of the Omicron variant originated in an immunocompromised person.

Healthy people can clear the virus within days to weeks without persistent infection or viral evolution. For the general public, long term infections remain rare.

Researchers will present their findings about this case at the ESCMID Global Congress in Barcelona, Spain starting this weekend.

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