ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY, Md. — Researchers have identified a unique strain of COVID-19 in Anne Arundel County, and they believe a person living in the area has been infected with COVID for years. It is likely, that that person has no idea.
Marc Johnson is a molecular virologist and professor. He took to X, formerly Twitter, to ask for help finding the person who may have unknowingly been infected with SARS-CoV-2 for about 3 years.
"They probably don’t even know they are infected, but they are shedding a ton of viral material in wastewater," Johnson said on X. "I’m trying to find this person without invading their privacy if they are willing to be found."
When an infected person "sheds" they can pass the infection on to other people. Johnson says one resident has been shedding a large amount of viral material into the Patuxent sewer shed, which serves about 78,000 people.
"To make a very long story short, we eventually figured out that this is coming from patients that have been infected with COVID for a very long time, so they have basically their own string because it's mutated over time," Johnson told WUSA9 on Thursday.
He believes the resident's gastrointestinal (GI) tract is infected, which could be hard to diagnose without special tests.
This isn't Johnson's first time tracking what he calls "cryptic lineages," a term he created to describe viral strains found in wastewater from an unknown source.
"They are rare, but not that rare," Johnson said in a joint statement with the Anne Arundel County Department of Health. "In one case we tracked a cryptic lineage down to a single set of toilets; this is why I am pretty sure it is coming from a person and not an animal. We also learned from that case that the amount shed by an individual can be so high that it can easily account for the signal we see downstream."
Johnson is working with state and county health departments to help bring awareness to local physicians, clinics, and specialists in the Crofton, Odenton and Severn areas. He says finding the person is important not just for their health but for public health research due to their infection contributing to wastewater COVID spikes.
Those who are believed to be a suspect in the case may be enrolled in a study at no charge. The results will be confidential but the results are shared with the patient and can be passed on to their physician, if they so choose.
"The main goals of the study are to learn what types of patients get these odd infections, what their symptoms are, and what the long-term consequences are if they are not treated," the statement from Johnson and the health department reads. "Because there is often a long incubation period before these infections are detected, we really have no idea how many more are out there."