COVID-19 patient infected for 411 days finally cured

Doctors have reported that a patient who had COVID-19 for 411 days is finally free from the virus due to a cocktail of drugs. According to experts from Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, London, and King’s College London the man, now 59, was unable to get rid of an early variant of the virus.The man had a weakened immune system after having a kidney transplant which made him more at danger of death and serious illness from the virus.He is thought to be one of the longest living patients with a persistent Covid infection.Another patient who was treated by the same team tested positive for Covid for 505 days but subsequently died.In the most recent case doctors noticed the man’s ongoing infection by analysing the genetics of the strain of the virus he was carrying. The national Covid memorial wall (Image: Getty Images ) A public health guidance display board in Slough pictured last month (Image: Getty Images )He was then given a mixture of neutralising antibodies (Regeneron) which are known to work against early coronavirus variants.This finally allowed his body to get rid of the virus.According to the research published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases the man originally tested positive in December 2020.Although his symptoms disappeared he continued to test positive spasmodically until January 2022.READ MORE: Britons’ scramble to heat homes with log burners raises dry kiln price A blue postbox thanking NHS workers in London (Image: Getty Images ) Boris Johnson at a vaccination training hub in Milton Keynes in January (Image: Getty Images )However, medics have warned that the emergence of new Covid variants has meant that neutralising antibody treatments are now largely ineffective.Dr Luke Snell, from Guy’s & St Thomas’ said that the new variants had made protecting vulnerable people more challenging and that efforts were ongoing to find ways to protect them.He said: “Some new variants of the virus are resistant to all the antibody treatments available in the UK and Europe.”Some people with weakened immune systems are still at risk of severe illness and becoming persistently infected.DON’T MISS: Manchester survivor ‘wanted to shout’ at Police as she blames response [REVEAL] Mum and dad ‘beat their 10-month-old son to death on Christmas Day’ [INSIGHT] Horror as house collapses in London [SPOTLIGHT]  St Thomas’ Hospital pictured in January (Image: Getty Images )”We are still working to understand the best way to protect and treat them.”Patients who have weakened immune system have trouble recovering, meaning the virus stays in their body for longerThis can give the virus time to mutate inside their body, potentially leading to the development of a a new variant.Some experts believe this is what caused the super-mutated Omicron variant, which swept the world in late 2021.