long-term infection
Leukemia patient has been corona positive for 14 months without interruption
Leukemia patient Muzaffer Kayasan has not been able to get rid of his corona infection for more than 400 days (symbol image)
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Muzaffer Kayasan suffers from leukemia – and has been infected with the virus continuously since the first positive corona test 14 months ago. He hasn’t lost his sense of humor though.
In November 2020, Muzaffer Kayasan tested positive for the corona virus for the first time. 14 months have passed since then, Kayasan was tested a total of 78 times – and every single test was positive. The 56-year-old Turk has been corona-positive for 14 months. Kayasan’s doctors told the Reuters news agency that this is Turkey’s longest known Covid infection.
Kayasan suffers from leukemia and is therefore one of the patients who could be particularly at risk from corona disease. When he was first diagnosed with the virus, he was still firmly convinced that he would die. He spent nine months in the hospital and the remaining five months of his infection largely in isolation. Contact with his son and granddaughter is only possible through a pane of glass.
“The Female Version of Covid”
Still, Kayasan hasn’t lost his sense of humor. “I think it’s the female version of Covid – she’s obsessed with me,” Reuters quoted him as saying. The Turk has always been a very positive person, his son told the news agency. But after 441 days of corona infection, he feels like he’s standing at a red light and can’t make any progress.
His consistent infection status also makes it impossible for Kayasan to get vaccinated against Covid-19. This is only allowed in Turkey if there is a negative test – and Kayasan cannot show that. He now hopes that the authorities will at least relax the quarantine measures in his specific case.
Vaccination has only a limited effect on leukemia patients
However, it is also unclear whether vaccination would help leukemia patients at all. According to a study by the Leukemia Society Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, only a quarter of those suffering from leukemia develop antibodies against Covid-19 after two doses of vaccination. The disease is probably also the reason why Muzaffer Kayasan has been corona-positive for so long. The doctors suspect that his immune system is so weakened by the cancer that he cannot get rid of the virus.
Source: Reuters