Woman has died after contracting 2 strains of coronavirus at the same time

• A 90-year-old Belgian woman died in March after contracting two strains of coronavirus at the same time.
• The woman, who had both the British and South African variant, died five days after falling ill.
• Researchers say the case is the first of its kind, but warn there could be more.
• See more stories on the Insider business page.

A 90-year-old Belgian woman who died of COVID-19 in March simultaneously contracted the British and South African strain, researchers said at a press conference on Sunday.

His case, which was discussed at this year’s European Congress on Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) as part of Belgian research, is considered the first of its kind.

The woman, who had not been vaccinated, fell ill in March and was treated in a hospital near Brussels, according to Belgian television channel VRT.

It is not known how she got infected, but her doctors said she could have contracted the infections from two different people, Reuters reported.

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While her oxygen levels were initially stable, her condition deteriorated very quickly and she died five days later.

Molecular biologist Anne Vankeerberghen said it was difficult to say whether the co-infection played a role in the patient’s rapid deterioration.

“These two variants were circulating in Belgium at the time, so the lady was probably co-infected with different viruses from two different people,” she said, according to the Guardian.

Vankeerberghen works for the OLV hospital in Belgium, which is leading the research. Their results have not yet been submitted to a medical journal for publication.

Although there are no other published cases of similar co-infections, researchers believe the case shows that it is possible to catch two variants of COVID-19 simultaneously. Vankeerberghen said “the phenomenon is probably underestimated”, according to the Guardian.

There are four variants of the coronavirus that are of greatest concern to experts around the world.

The Delta variant, which came out of India and is more contagious than the original virus, is currently the cause of most new infections in Europe and the United States.