A 90-year-old woman was admitted to a hospital in Belgium with normal blood oxygen levels and no breathing problems.
However, he repeatedly fell while trying to walk.
Doctors did several tests and he tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, the COVID-19 virus.
But, to everyone's surprise, it
was infected by two strains
: alpha and beta (detected first in the United Kingdom and South Africa, respectively).
[COVID-19 infections increase in 26 states]
The patient finally died five days later because the disease rapidly deteriorated her respiratory system.
"Unfortunately, we do not know how it became infected," explained Anne Vankeerberghen, from OLV Hospital in Aalst (Belgium), in a press release picked up by NPR radio.
Are people vaccinated against COVID-19 delta variant protected?
An expert explains
July 12, 202103: 37
"Both variants were circulating in Belgium at that time, so it is likely that it was
infected by viruses from two different people
," explained the doctor, who is a molecular biologist and author of the report.
The case of this patient was presented in a study published last weekend at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases
The woman had no known serious illness.
She lived alone at home, where she received nursing care, according to Vankeerberghen and study co-authors.
[The world exceeds four million deaths from coronavirus, equivalent to the population of Los Angeles]
Although this is considered the first confirmed case of a double infection, Vankeerberghen and the other researchers note that similar cases have been recorded.
In Brazil, for example, people with two variants in their system were discovered at the beginning of the year, but the study in which they were collected has not yet been published.
This situation has also occurred with the flu
, say the researchers, after detecting patients who have contracted two different strains of the virus.
Olfactory therapy promises to help overcome the aftermath of COVID-19
July 9, 202102: 29
Experts attribute to the variants of the coronavirus the
localized or regional increase in new cases of COVID-19 in the United States
, despite the fact that high levels of vaccination in certain areas have managed to contain the spread of the virus.
The Joe Biden government announced in April a new strategy to push variant testing to break the chain of transmission.
Health experts say it is especially vital to identify the strains of the virus that are responsible for thousands of cases in the United States, in which the virus succeeds in infecting vaccinated people.
With information from NPR
.
