VOA健康报道2022 研究表明英国患者感染新冠肺炎达505天

British researchers say they have documented a case of a patient who had COVID-19 for 505 days. Experts say they think the case represents the longest infection of COVID-19 on record.

英国研究人员表示，他们记载了一名感染新冠肺炎达505天的患者的病例。专家表示，他们认为该病例代表了有记录的耗时最长的新冠肺炎感染。

The research was part of a study that looked at whether virus mutations can form in people who carry COVID-19 for a very long time.

该研究是另一项旨在研究长期感染新冠肺炎者是否会形成病毒突变的研究的一部分。

The study involved nine patients who tested positive for the virus for at least eight weeks. All patients had weakened immune systems linked to organ replacement¹ operations, HIV, cancer or other diseases.

该研究涉及了9名病毒检测呈阳性至少达8周的患者。所有患者的免疫系统都因为器官置换手术、艾滋病毒、癌症或其它疾病而削弱。

Repeated tests showed that the patients' infections lasted an average of 73 days. Two of them had the virus longer than a year. Before the study, the longest-known COVID-19 case was believed to have lasted 335 days.

反复检测表明，这些患者的感染平均持续了73天。其中两人感染病毒超过1年。在这项研究以前，已知最长时间的新冠肺炎病例被认为持续了335天。

Dr. Luke Blagdon Snell helped lead the study. He told The Associated Press the researchers considered the cases studied to be "persistent²" COVID-19. This is different from what has been described as "long COVID-19."

卢克·布莱戈登·斯内尔协助领导了这项研究。他对美联社表示，研究人员认为所研究的病例是“持续的”新冠肺炎。这跟所谓的“长期的”新冠肺炎不同。

With long COVID-19, it is believed that the virus has been cleared from the patient's body, but individuals can still experience signs, or symptoms, of disease, Snell said. A persistent infection "represents ongoing³, active replication of the virus," he added.

斯内尔表示，随着长期新冠肺炎的出现，人们认为病毒已经从患者体内清除，但是个人仍会出现疾病的迹象或症状。他补充说，持续感染“代表病毒的持续、积极复制。”

Each time researchers tested patients, they examined the genetic⁴ code of the virus to make sure it was the same version, or variant⁵. Results from the study showed that the virus could change and mutate over time.

每次研究人员进行检测时，他们都会检查病毒的遗传密码，以查明白它是相同版本或是变种。研究结果表明，随着时间推移，病毒可能会发生变化或变异。

Snell said the observed mutations were similar to ones that later showed up in widespread variants⁶ of COVID-19. But the team noted⁷ that none of the new mutations in the nine cases became variants of concern. There was also no evidence that any of the patients had spread the virus to others.

斯内尔表示，观察到的突变与后来出现在新冠肺炎广泛传播变种中的突变类似。但是该研究小组指出，9个病例中的新突变没有成为受关注的变种。也没有证据表明有任何患者将病毒传播给其他人。

Five of the nine patients studied survived. Two got rid of the infection without treatment. Two cleared the infection after treatment and one still has COVID-19.

研究的9名患者中有5人幸存了下来。有两人在未经过治疗的情况下摆脱了感染。两人在治疗后清除了感染，有一人仍然感染新冠肺炎。

The person with the longest known infection tested positive in early 2020, and was treated with the drug remdesivir and died in 2021.

已知感染时间最长的这个人在2020年初检测呈阳性，接受了瑞德西韦药物治疗，并于2021年死亡。

The study team refused to name the exact cause of the patient's death. The researchers said the patient had other diseases, along with COVID-19.

该研究小组拒绝说出患者死亡的确切原因。研究人员表示，该患者患有其它疾病，以及新冠肺炎。

Scientists hope to develop treatments to help people recover from persistent COVID-19 infections. "We do need to be mindful that there are some people who are more susceptible⁸ to these problems like persistent infection and severe disease," Snell said.

科学家们希望开发出治疗方法，帮助人们从持续的新冠肺炎感染中恢复过来。斯内尔表示：“我们确实需要注意，有些人更容易受到这些问题的影响，例如持续的感染和严重疾病。”

1 replacement   

n.取代，替换，交换；替代品，代用品

参考例句：

• We are hard put to find a replacement for our assistant.我们很难找到一个人来代替我们的助手。
• They put all the students through the replacement examination.他们让所有的学生参加分班考试。

2 persistent   

adj.坚持不懈的，执意的；持续的

参考例句：

• Albert had a persistent headache that lasted for three days.艾伯特连续头痛了三天。
• She felt embarrassed by his persistent attentions.他不时地向她大献殷勤，使她很难为情。

3 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

4 genetic   

adj.遗传的，遗传学的

参考例句：

• It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
• Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。

5 variant   

adj.不同的，变异的；n.变体，异体

参考例句：

• We give professional suggestions according to variant tanning stages for each customer.我们针对每位顾客不同的日晒阶段，提供强度适合的晒黑建议。
• In a variant of this approach,the tests are data- driven.这个方法的一个变种，是数据驱动的测试。

6 variants   

n.变体( variant的名词复数 )；变种；变型；（词等的）变体

参考例句：

• Those variants will be preserved in the'struggle for existence". 这些变异将在“生存竞争”中被保留下来。 来自辞典例句
• Like organisms, viruses have variants, generally called strains. 与其他生物一样，病毒也有变种，一般称之为株系。 来自辞典例句

7 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

8 susceptible   

adj.过敏的，敏感的；易动感情的，易受感动的

参考例句：

• Children are more susceptible than adults.孩子比成人易受感动。
• We are all susceptible to advertising.我们都易受广告的影响。