During this time, she could infect a huge number of people.
More than a year has passed since the appearance of the coronavirus infection. During this time, scientists have learned a lot about the new virus. But not all of them. With frightening regularity, new strains appear, which proceed in different ways in humans, causing strange consequences. Someone after even six months cannot regain their sense of smell, while others note persistent weakness. And more recently, an infectious disease doctor told about a woman who was a carrier of the virus for almost a year!
“One of our patients had the virus for 11 months, which was a record. Others – six months, three months, two months, – infectious disease doctor Oksana Stanevich shared her observations. – Patients are contagious to those around them. They have different periods of illness, including a latent phase, that is, a latent course. Pneumonia can also develop, which can lead to a severe course. For one patient, who was ill for six months, everything ended in death. “
The expert explained that there is a large group of people whose body can keep the virus for a long time. It can hide in the tissues of the lungs, intestines, and even in the myocardium or central nervous system. As a rule, these are patients with oncology and systemic blood diseases, as well as with autoimmune diseases such as lupus erythematosus.
At the same time, a virus that has been in the body for a long time inevitably accumulates mutations. According to Stanevich, new strains can not only be brought from other countries or transmitted from animals, but also appear in the bodies of those who have been sick with coronavirus for a long time.
“And this is exactly the question of how the SARS-CoV-2 variants arise. They can appear not only from other countries and, for example, when switching from animals, as was the case with minks in 2020, the doctor said in an interview. … “That is, new variants of the virus can appear in the country, even if all borders are closed and no one comes.”
The infectious disease specialist also said that people who have been sick with coronavirus for a long time will not necessarily be carriers and sources of new mutations, but it is in their bodies that they occur most often.
Earlier, the first infected with the new Delta Plus strain was identified in Russia. What is known about it at the moment and how it manifests itself, read our material.