Dutch Man Dies After Battling COVID For World Record 613 Days - And 50 Different Mutations

A Dutch man has died after battling a very powerful and relentless strain of COVID-19 — for 613 days.

According to TIME and other reports published on Friday, the unidentified man was 72 years old when he passed away late last year. He originally caught the Omicron variant of the coronavirus back in February 2022 — even after receiving multiple COVID vaccine shots in the prior year with the hope that he would be able to withstand the virus. However, per that outlet, he had a rare blood disorder that affected his immune system, and thus, his body was particularly susceptible to COVID.

News of his 613-day battle and tragic death was first released on Thursday afternoon. The Netherlands’ Centre for Experimental and Molecular Medicine (CEMM) housed within the Amsterdam University Medical Center released their findings on his death last year along with an accompanying statement to the media. In it, they announced that the man suffered through “the longest SARS-CoV-2 [COVID-19] infection duration to date.” Several other cases of infections lasting more than a hundred days have been recorded in the past, as the CEMM notes, but nowhere on earth is there a documented case lasting anywhere near as long as this man’s 613-day battle.

During that time, his infection morphed and changed constantly. It became “a highly mutated novel variant,” according to the CEMM researchers. The virus ended up mutating more than 50 times (!!!) throughout the two-year ordeal, changing and altering itself constantly even as doctors tried desperately to fight it off.

In their report, CEMM researchers noted that the man had myelodysplastic syndrome. Per the Mayo Clinic, that is a disorder in which blood cells are poorly formed and fail to replicate themselves efficiently so they may work properly. Because of that, his immune system was at particularly significant risk for suffering from the effects of COVID. Their report stated:

“Infected patients can clear the virus within a period of days to weeks, but an immunocompromised individual [like this patient] can develop a persistent infection with prolonged viral replication and evolution.”

The Dutch doctors and researchers used a COVID antibody treatment known as sotrovimab to try to fight off the virus in the man’s body. However, the virus developed a resistance to that treatment, and that led to his death:

“In the end, the patient died from a relapse of his hematological condition.”

Thankfully (and amazingly), the Dutch researchers say there was not one single documented transmission of COVID from this man to other members of the community. That’s good — and also amazing, considering he was fighting it for 613 days. As the CEMM team noted in their report, his death underscores how serious COVID still is, and especially for immunocompromised people. So scary, and so tragic. Sending love and light…

[Image via WENN]