British researchers have used genetic sequencing to cure the disease Corona virus More than 411 days.
In the year After further testing in February 2021 and January 2022, the team in London carried out a genetic analysis of the virus, which showed that the same strain was present at each stage, which meant that the patient suffered from the disease. Chronic coronavirus infection rather than multiple new infections.
Chronic coronavirus infection is different from long-term Covid-19 disease, where people suffer persistent symptoms and long-term effects after being infected with the virus due to Covid-19.
“Nowadays everybody is infected with Omicron, but when we look at his virus, it was something that existed a long time ago – before Omicron, before Delta and even before Alpha. So it was one of those old, original differences from the beginning of the epidemic,” said an infectious disease specialist and Luke Blagden Snell, a researcher on the case, told The Washington Post on Friday.
Because the patient was experiencing only mild or intermittent symptoms, he was not eligible for treatments used to prevent or treat severe Covid-19.
The result of the genetic sequence shows that the person was released in Britain at the end of 2020 with the B.1.177.18 corona virus. The team was able to provide the patient with an effective combination antibody therapy. That pressure.
The case is one of several described in a pre-published article by Snell and a team of researchers from Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust and the Department of Infectious Diseases at King’s College London. It was published in the peer-reviewed journal Clinical Infectious Diseases on Thursday.
Although the most recent differences do not respond to the antibodies currently used in this case, the main ones in Britain, the findings show the possibility of finding individual treatments in patients with chronic coronavirus infection. The genome sequencing process described in the paper provides results within 24 hours, allowing medical teams to respond quickly to patients’ needs.
In two other cases described in the report, genetic sequencing showed that patients suspected of suffering from the disease for a long time were actually infected with a new strain of the virus. So their doctors were able to change their treatment plans accordingly.
Genome sequencing has been used throughout the outbreak to identify new variants and subtypes, such as Omicron, first discovered by scientists in South Africa in November 2021.
It is unclear how widespread chronic coronavirus infections are. The longest known case to date was in a patient who tested positive for 505 days before dying. Treated in the same groups.
“However, there is definitely a difference between the two-week community infection that resolves,” as it happens in most cases, and a small amount of immunocompromised patients who can have a chronic infection that lasts more than six weeks, he said.
Among persistent infections there are two groups: those who, like the cured person, are relatively asymptomatic and others who have more serious consequences.
Any long-term infection affects the body, but even asymptomatic cases can be dangerous: “We know that some people, even after several months of persistent infection, can deteriorate over time.
And while cases of chronic infection are rare, high rates of infection mean vulnerable patients can easily become infected and develop chronic infections, he said.
The goal of future research in this area is to collect enough data on persistent infections to identify new treatment options — an issue that has become increasingly important as new strains become increasingly resistant to antiviral treatments, Snell said.