Tale of a survivor: 107-year-old woman who beat Spanish flu in 1918, survives Coronavirus

MÁLAGA, SPAIN- A 107-year-old Spanish woman, Ana del Valle, overcame two pandemics, the coronavirus and the Spanish flu of 1918, her daughter-in-law, Paqui Sánchez, told Efe shortly after her family member was discharged from hospital .

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Del Valle, who became seriously ill, was admitted to an intensive care unit, where she had an “incredible” recovery, Sánchez added.

This story of survival began when, as a child, she overcame the so-called “Spanish Flu” pandemic that caused tens of millions of deaths worldwide. “In her house, everyone was sick,” said her daughter-in-law.

Ana, who could be the oldest person known to have overcome the coronavirus, has resided for eight years in the nursing home of Alcalá del Valle (region of Andalucía, southern Spain).

Her family received a notification last March that visits were prohibited because a worker at the center had tested positive for COVID-19.

The center reported after “unofficially, of the twenty-two workers at the residence, twenty had tested positive”, and that “the results of the nursing home residents took longer because the samples had been sent to a laboratory,” Sánchez explained.

The results showed that Ana del Valle had the disease and she was transferred to a hospital, but her relatives were able to call her on the phone, video calls and even send videos and photos to the old woman, thanks to the cooperation of the health workers.

Through these means they learned that “there was a team of emergency specialists, a group of psychologists and two doctors” attending to her at the hospital, Sánchez says.

Finally, Ana del Valle overcame the disease and tested negative for the first time in her third test.

Two other 101-year-old women recovered from coronavirus in Spain.

Credit: The Yucatan Times