The aim of this paper is to present a case of COVID-19 in a newly diagnosed HIV-infected, severely immunodepressed patient with a long persistence of positive RT-PCR for RNA SARS-CoV-2. Indirect data suggests that viable virus persisted for a long time in the absence of an adequate defense of the host. Improved immunity after starting antiretroviral treatment was not associated with an increased inflammatory reaction as regarding the infection due to the coronavirus and, apparently, was the main factor to control the infection. Remdesivir used to combat the SARS-CoV-2 infection had no immediate effect on the recorded cycle-threshold.

Starting from December 2020, vaccination against COVID-19 became available in Romania. There are a lot of uncertainties regarding the kinetics of immunity and its persistance over time. This is a small prospective study developed between January-September 2021 in the Infectious Diseases Clinic from Craiova and comprising 61 subjects immunised with BNT162b2 (Comirnaty). We have found that after two doses of vaccine there is a strong humoral response, but the immunity lowers six months later. Subjects with a diagnosis of COVID-19, previously or in between the two doses, have had the most significant immunological response, but, also, the sharpest decline in antibody titer. The immune response seems to be the same, regardless the gender of the subjects. There are a variety of responses at the individual level, but overall vaccine effectiveness is 96.72% two weeks following immunisation and 88.52% after six months; however for those who have been in contact with the virus, they all had an antibody titer well above the laboratory limit.