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Paris (AFP)
A 90-year-old woman who died after falling ill with Covid-19 was infected with both the Alpha and Beta variants of the coronavirus, Belgian researchers said on Sunday, adding that the rare phenomenon could be underestimated.
The unvaccinated woman, who lived alone and received nursing care at home, was admitted to the OLV hospital in the Belgian city of Aalst after a series of falls in March and tested positive for Covid-19 the same day .
While her oxygen levels were initially good, her condition rapidly deteriorated and she died five days later.
When medical staff tested for the presence of the worrisome variants, they discovered that she carried both the Alpha strain, which originated in Britain, and the Beta variant first detected in South Africa.
“These two variants were circulating in Belgium at the time, so it is likely that the lady was co-infected with different viruses from two different people,” said molecular biologist Anne Vankeerberghen of the OLV hospital who led the research.
“Unfortunately, we don’t know how she got infected.”
Vankeerberghen said it was difficult to say whether the co-infection played a role in the patient’s rapid deterioration.
The research, which has not yet been submitted to a medical journal for publication, is being presented at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases.
While Vankeerberghen said in a statement that there had been “no other published cases” of similar co-infections, she added that the “phenomenon is probably underestimated”.
This is due to the limited number of tests for variants of concern, she said, calling for an increase in the use of rapid PCR tests to detect mutations in known variants.
In January, Brazilian scientists reported that two people were simultaneously infected with two different strains of the coronavirus, but the study has yet to be published in a scientific journal.
In comments reacting to the research, Lawrence Young, a virologist and professor of molecular oncology at the University of Warwick, said it was no surprise to find an individual infected with more than one strain.
“This study highlights the need for more studies to determine whether infection with multiple variants of concern affects the clinical course of Covid-19 and whether this in any way compromises the effectiveness of the vaccination.” , he added.
© 2021 AFP
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