Jaipur: A 35-year old woman from Bharatpur district of Rajasthan has tested positive for coronavirus 31 times in the last five months, stumping doctors who are trying to treat her.
The woman, Sharda Devi, has been staying at the shelter home Apna Ghar.
In the last five months, doctors have carried out 14 RT-PCR tests and 17 antigen tests on her, a total of 31 tests, and all the reports have been positive. Her first test was conducted on August 28, 2020, and the last one was done on January 7.
She has been treated with allopathic, homeopathic and ayurvedic drugs but has not yet tested negative, posing a stiff challenge for doctors.
Despite being COVID-19 positive, the woman has no symptoms and feels fine. She had also managed to gain weight.
Apna Ghar founder Dr BM Bhardwaj said that Sharda was brought from her village Bajhera in a bad condition to the shelter.
“She was on the verge of death. She was very frail and weak and could not even stand on her feet. She weighed only 30 kgs but she now weighs 38 kgs,” he said.
On her arrival, Sharda was tested for coronavirus as per the protocol and she tested positive.
Bharatpur CMHO Dr Kaptan Singh said that there are two reasons for a person continually testing positive for the Sars-Cov2 virus. ”Either the person’s immunity is low or dead virus is stored in the mucosa of the patient. Most likely her immunity is low and so she is still testing positive.”
The virus in Sharda’s body is inactive now but she is still being kept in isolation so she does not pose a risk to other inmates at the shelter home. Sharda has been confined to two rooms at the ashram for the past five months.
Dr Bhardwaj said he has spoken to health officials in Bharatpur as well as to doctors in SMS hospital in Jaipur regarding Sharda’s case. He said he will seek permission from the CMHO and collector to send Sharda to Jaipur for treatment.
The shelter home saw 91 residents who contracted coronavirus. 86 of them have recovered and one has died and now there are four positive patients.
Last year, a 10-year-old boy from Bharatpur had also tested positive for coronavirus 9 times before finally testing negative.
