A 90-year-old woman was infected with two different strains of the coronavirus when she died earlier this year, according to Belgian researchers.
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The woman was not vaccinated when she was admitted to a hospital in the Belgian city of Aalst in March. When the symptoms worsened, she died five days later, writes the BBC.
The laboratory tests indicate that she was infected with both the alpha and beta variants, according to the researchers. These are the mutations that were previously referred to as the British and the South African variant, respectively.
The case was discussed at the annual European Congress on Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases on Saturday, and the findings have not yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal.
“Both variants were circulating in Belgium at this time, so it is likely that the woman was infected with two different variants from two different people,” says molecular biologist Anne Venkeerberghen, who is leading a study on the phenomenon at the hospital where the woman was admitted.
Venkeerberghen adds that they do not know how the woman was first infected, according to the BBC.
Similar cases have been discovered in both Brazil and Portugal, and researchers believe that this rare phenomenon is strongly underreported. Researchers are now calling for more studies on such a double infection and especially how this may affect the vaccine’s effect.
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