a woman died after contracting two different variants

A group of European researchers have detected the case of a 90-year-old woman who died in March after being infected with variants coronavirus: Alfa, released in the UK, and Beta, originally from South Africa.

“This is one of the first cases documented from coinfection with two worrying variants of SARS-CoV-2 “‘, assured molecular biologist Anne Vankeerberghen, author of the study carried out at the Onze-Lieve-Vrouwziekenhuis (OLVZ) hospital in Aalst (northern Belgium).

The woman who had not been vaccinated, was hospitalized in March after testing positive for covid-19.

Although his oxygen levels were good at first, his condition quickly deteriorated and he died five days after being admitted to hospital.

When they tested the disturbing variants, medical staff discovered that the patient had been infected with alpha and beta.

According to the BBC, he apparently became infected after coming into contact with two different infected people. She lived alone, but received constant visits from people who were helping her. The case will be debated at the European Congress of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases.

“Both variants were circulating in Belgium at that time, so it is likely that the woman was co-infected with different viruses from two different people,” Vankeerberghen said, in statements collected by the daily De Morgen. The researcher recognized that they don’t know how he got infected.

According to the molecular biologist, it is “difficult” to know whether the infection with the two variants influenced the rapid deterioration of the health of the elderly woman.

The research has not yet been submitted for publication in a medical journal, but is being discussed at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID).

In a statement collected by De Morgen, Vankeerberghen said there were no other published cases of infections with two variants, but added that this phenomenon “it’s probably underestimated”, in part because of the limited number of tests performed to detect variants.

Other similar cases are the one detected in January in Brazil with a possible double contagion, including the gamma variant, or that of Portugal, where recently a 17-year-old boy apparently was infected again with another variant while he was still recovering. contagion.

With information from EFE and DPA

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