A patient from Kaluga, Russia, who experienced one of the world`s longest documented COVID-19 infections, did not transmit the virus to any other individuals during her two-year illness, according to research findings released by Galina Klink, a Senior Researcher at the International Laboratory of Statistical and Computational Genomics at HSE University.
«During the course of its evolution inside the patient, the virus developed mutations that overlapped with the Omicron variant. However, unlike Omicron, our patient did not infect anyone throughout her disease period. Most likely, this is due to the difference between the natural selection pressure acting within a single patient and the selection pressure involved in transmission between people,» Klink explained.
This unusual case involved an HIV-positive patient from Kaluga. An international team of researchers, including scientists from HSE University, studied a specific SARS-CoV-2 sample taken from her. Genetic analysis was conducted to identify the numerous mutations that had occurred, establishing that the virus had been actively evolving within her system for a period of two years.
