Brazil is studying cases of infected with two variants …

Brazilian scientists have discovered two cases in which different variants of covid-19 generated simultaneous infection, which opens a facet for the moment unknown on the new coronavirus.

They are two 30-year-old women who suffered from mild and moderate symptoms. In both has been identified a co-infection of two different variants. In one case, the two identified variants had circulated in Brazil since the start of the pandemic. In the other, the woman was simultaneously infected with an older strain of the virus and the P.2 variant first identified in Rio de Janeiro.

The find came from 92 samples taken from the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul.

According to the researchers, co-infection would allow genomes from different strains to combine, which could lead to new variants of the coronavirus. “Although there are a few reported cases of reinfection, the possibility of co-infection with E484K adds a new factor to the complex interaction between immune response systems and Pico mutations in SARS-CoV-2,” the authors said. , according to CNN.

News of the new discovery arrives while Brazil is going through one of the worst contagion and death crises due to covid-19. With an overwhelmed health system and in the absence of measures taken by President Jair Bolsonaro, the country ranks second in number of deaths, with more than 373,000 deceased since the start of the pandemic.

Brazilian health officials last week warned that the profile of critically ill patients admitted to intensive care was changing. For the first time since the start of the pandemic, the number of patients under 40 admitted to intensive care has exceeded the group of adults.