- Michelle Roberts
- BBC News health editor online
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Image source, Getty Images
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It is possible to be infected with two variants of Covid at the same time, experts warn, after seeing multiple infections in a 90-year-old woman.
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The woman was detected with the Alpha and Beta variants of Covid, which were first identified in the UK and South Africa.
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He died in March 2021 in Belgium, and has not been vaccinated.
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Doctors who treated him suspected he had contracted it from two different people.
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They believe this is the first documented case, and although rare, two variant infections like this can occur.
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The woman’s case was discussed at this year’s European Congress on Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases.
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In January 2021, scientists in Brazil report two people are infected with two types of coronavirus at the same time, one of which is a worrying variant (variant of concern) Gamma type.
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Meanwhile, researchers from Portugal recently treated a 17-year-old teenager suspected of contracting the second type of Covid, while still recovering from another type of Covid infection.
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90-year-old woman, infected with two “variant of concern” – the most alarming new variants of the coronavirus and closely tracked by experts – was taken to hospital after experiencing a number of mild symptoms, but then he showed worsening respiratory symptoms.
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Laboratory test results from samples taken when he was admitted to the hospital showed he contracted Covid-19, which is caused by two different mutations simultaneously – Alpha and Beta.
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The lead investigator of the case, Dr Anne Vankeerberghen from OLV Hospital in Aalst, Belgium, explained, “These two variants were spreading in Belgium at the time, so it is possible that this woman was infected with different viruses from two different people. Unfortunately, we did not find out how he got infected.
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“He lives alone, but he has a lot of help coming to his aid.
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“Whether this concurrent infection of the two variants caused the rapid deterioration of the patient’s health remains difficult to say.”
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Viruses are constantly changing by mutating as they replicate. This is what causes the various versions of the new variant.
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Covid has undergone a number of important changes that may make them more dangerous – for example, by increasing their ability to replicate or evading some of the body’s immune systems that are formed after a past infection or vaccination.
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The most worrying variants are closely monitored by scientists and are named variants of concern.
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Currently in the UK, the Delta variant is the fastest spreading.
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But so far, experts believe existing vaccines can provide protection against new variants.
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Scientists are still designing Covid vaccines that can fight the new variant, and can be used as a booster dose.
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Professor Lawrence Young, a virologist at the University of Warwick said, “Detecting two worryingly dominant variants in one person is not surprising – it can be transmitted by one infected individual, or by contact with more than one infected person.”
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He said more research was needed to determine whether these kinds of infections could compromise the efficacy of vaccination, or lead to worse cases of Covid-19.
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