UK Man Tests COVID-19 Positive for 10 Months Straight

Bristol, England: 

On Thursday, researchers revealed that a 72-year-old British man tested positive for coronavirus for 10 months, which is the longest recorded incidence of persistent infection.

Dave Smith, a retired driving teacher from Bristol in western England, stated that he tested positive 43 times, was hospitalised seven times, and had even made funeral arrangements. 

"I'd resigned myself, I'd called the family in, made my peace with everybody, said goodbye,", he told BBC television.

Linda, his wife, who was quarantined at home with him, stated:  "There was a lot of times when we didn't think he was going to pull through. It's been a hell of a year".

Smith "had active virus in his body" throughout, according to Ed Moran, a consultant in infectious diseases at the University of Bristol and North Bristol NHS Trust. 

"We were able to prove that by sending a sample of his virus to university partners who managed to grow it, proving that it was not just left-over products that were triggering a PCR test but actually active, viable virus." 

After being treated with a mixture of synthetic antibodies created by the US biotech company Regeneron, Smith gradually recovered. 

In his situation, this was permitted on compassionate grounds, although the treatment regimen is not clinically authorized for use in the United Kingdom. 

The therapy reduced mortality among severe Covid patients who are unable to develop a strong immune response, according to the findings of a clinical trial published this month. 

When he eventually tested negative 45 days after getting the Regeneron medication and 305 days after his initial sickness, he and his wife popped open a bottle of champagne. 

Smith's therapy was not part of a formal medical study, but his case is currently being investigated by virologist Andrew Davidson of the University of Bristol. 

A report on his case will be submitted at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases in July, with the claim that his is the "longest infection recorded in the literature." 

Smith had a history of lung illness and had just recovered from leukaemia when he became infected with the virus in March 2020. 

He told The Guardian on a daily basis that he still suffers short of breath after his recuperation, but that he has travelled throughout the country and is training his granddaughter to drive. 

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