Man Sets Record Of Testing Positive For Covid 78 Times In 14 Months

(MENAFN- Khaama Press) When Muzaffer Kayasan first caught COVID-19, he thought he was destined to die since he was already suffering from leukemia. Fourteen months and 78 straight positive tests later, he is still alive – and still battling to shake off the infection.

Kayasan, 56, has Turkey's longest recorded continuous COVID-19 infection, doctors say, possibly due to a weakened immune system from cancer. Despite being in and out of hospital since November 2020, his spirits have been high.

Nine months in hospital and five months mostly alone in his flat has separated him from much of the outside world, including his granddaughter, Azra, who stays in the garden while visiting, talking through the glass back door.

Coronavirus patients with immunosuppression are at risk of prolonged infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome, according to a study published last year in the New England Journal of Medicine. Another by the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society shows one in four blood cancer patients do not produce detectable antibodies even after receiving two vaccine shots.

The positive tests make Kayasan ineligible for a vaccine, according to Turkish guidelines that say positive patients must wait for a full recovery to receive a shot. Kayasan, who lost his sense of taste and smell through the ordeal, has appealed to authorities to at least ease his confinement.

His son, Gokhan Kayasan, said his father had always been a“positive” person – just not in this way.

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