A 90-year-old woman from Belgium who previously died of the coronavirus was simultaneously infected with both the Alpha and the Beta variant, Belgian researchers announced on Sunday. According to them, this rare phenomenon may be underestimated.
The unvaccinated woman, who lived alone and received home nursing, was admitted to hospital in Aalst in March after a number of falls. She tested positive for Covid-19 the same day. Although her oxygen levels were initially good, her condition deteriorated rapidly and she died five days later.
When medical personnel tested for the presence of variants of concern, they found that the woman was carrying both the Alpha strain, which was originally from Great Britain, and the Beta variant, first discovered in South Africa. “Both variants were circulating in Belgium at the time, so it’s likely she was co-infected with different viruses from two different people,” said molecular biologist Anne Vankeerberghen of the OLV hospital who led the study. “Unfortunately, we don’t know how she got infected.”
Vankeerberghen said it is difficult to say whether the co-infection played a role in the rapid decline of the patient. The research, which has not yet been submitted for publication to a medical journal, will be presented at a European conference. Vankeerberghen stated in a press release that there were “no other published cases” of similar co-infections and added that the “phenomenon is probably underestimated”. She says this is due to limited testing for worrisome virus variants and calls for more rapid PCR testing to detect known variant mutations.
In January, scientists in Brazil 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.
Commenting on the research, Lawrence Young, a virologist and professor of molecular oncology at the University of Warwick, said it was no surprise to find a person infected with more than one strain. “This study highlights the need for more research to determine whether infection with multiple variants of concern affects the clinical course of Covid-19 and whether this in any way compromises the efficacy of vaccination.”
