Europe’s oldest woman recovers from disease she didn’t know she had

Europe’s oldest woman recovers from disease she didn’t know she had

I came across this article on the BBC News website this morning, and after reading it, it seemed to me that all I ever knew or learned about illness and disease just doesn’t seem to apply any more, not when it comes to COVID.

A French nun who is Europe’s oldest person has survived Covid-19, just days before her 117th birthday.

Lucile Randon, who took the name of Sister Andre in 1944, tested positive for coronavirus on 16 January but didn’t develop any symptoms.

She told local media she “didn’t even realise I had it”.

She isolated separately from other residents in her retirement home in Toulon, southern France, but is now considered fully recovered.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-56005488

Considering the fact that COVID mostly affects the elderly, it is indeed remarkable that this 116 year old woman has somehow survived and lived to tell the tale.

But actually when you look just a little closely, it looks like what we know about illness and disease has suddenly been ‘rewritten’.

The article states that Sister Andre “tested positive” for coronavirus on 16th January. But she didn’t develop any symptoms.

So, on that basis, if she didn’t actually develop any symptoms, was she actually sick? Did she suffer from this ‘disease’?

It seems the answer thus is “no”. So if one doesn’t develop any symptoms and suffer from any disease, how on earth is it being determined that you have ‘recovered’?

Sister Andre even admits she “didn’t even realise I had it“.

How can you recover from a disease you haven’t suffered with?

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