00:00 (soft music)
00:02 The COVID pandemic may be long behind us,
00:06 but the illness is still around and likely always will be.
00:09 Now a new case study has come out regarding a man
00:12 who had the longest known case of the virus ever.
00:14 And it's providing some interesting and troubling insights
00:17 into the deadly disease.
00:19 The man in question was a 72 year old
00:21 immunocompromised individual
00:23 who had the virus for an incredible 613 days.
00:26 Despite treatments, including multiple vaccinations,
00:29 his immune system remained unable to fight off the illness.
00:32 He eventually succumbed to COVID
00:34 and died after 20 months of infection.
00:36 But during that time,
00:37 doctors were able to constantly take tests,
00:39 finding some unusual things.
00:41 While the virus is known to mutate while inside a host,
00:43 in this case, it mutated 50 times.
00:46 One such mutation was the deletion
00:48 of an end of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein,
00:51 which experts say indicates
00:52 it could have escaped the immune system.
00:54 With the researchers writing as part of the study,
00:57 quote, "This case underscores the risk
00:59 of persistent SARS-CoV-2 infections
01:01 in immunocompromised individuals,
01:03 as unique SARS-CoV-2 viral variants may emerge
01:06 due to extensive intra-host evolution."
01:08 They added that they don't believe
01:10 any of the man's highly mutated variants
01:12 were able to jump to another person or animal.
01:16 (gentle music)
01:18 (upbeat music)
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