A yet strange yet reliable incident has in light from Britain, where a 72-year-old man had tested positive for 43 times in thematter of 10 months.
This is plausibly the longest recorded case of continuousinfection in a human body asserted researchers on Friday.
The man who had contracted Covid 43 times has beenidentified as Dave Smith, a retired driving instructor from Bristol in westernEngland and was hospitalized seven times and had even made plans for hisfuneral.
In an interview to the BBC, “I'd resigned myself, I'dcalled the family in, made my peace with everybody, said goodbye.”
His wife, Linda, who quarantined with him at home, said: “Therewas a lot of times when we didn't think he was going to pull through. It's beena hell of a year.”
According to a consultant in infectious disease at theUniversity of Bristol and North Bristol NHS Trust, Ed Moran said, Smith"had an active virus in his body" throughout.
"We were able to prove that by sending a sample ofhis virus to university partners who managed to grow it, proving that it wasnot just left-over products that were triggering a PCR test but actuallyactive, viable virus."
It may be noted here that Smith had recovered from theinfection after treatment with a cocktail of synthetic antibodies developedby the US biotech firm Regeneron.
The treatment which Smith received is not clinicallyapproved for use in Britain yet but in his case, it was allowed on the compassionategrounds.
According to the results of clinical trials publishedthis month showed the treatment reduced deaths among severe Covid patients whoare unable to mount a strong immune response.
"It's like you've been given your life back",Smith told the BBC.
When Smith finally tested negative for the contagiousinfection he and his wife celebrated by opening a bottle of champagne. Hisreports turned out to be negative after 45 days upon administering the Regenerondrug and about 305 days after his first infection.
As Smith’s treatment has not done under official medicaltrial but his case is now being studied by virologist Andrew Davidson at the University of Bristol.
Andrew will also present a paper on his case at theEuropean Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases in July,saying that his is thought to be "the longest infection recorded in theliterature".
"Where does the virus hideaway in the body? How canit stay just persistently infecting people? We don't know that," Davidsonsaid.
Smith’s medical history suggests that he had lung diseaseand had recently recovered from leukemia post contracting the infection inMarch 2020.
Smith has also shared the post-Covid symptoms whichincludes breathlessness however, he is still full of life and has traveled inBritain to teach his granddaughter to drive.
"I've been down to the bottom and everything'sbrilliant now," he said.