It is possible to be infected with two different strains of the coronavirus at the same time, experts say, after the case of an unvaccinated elderly woman who was found to be infected with both the alpha and beta variants of Covid-19.
The 90-year-old woman died in a hospital in Belgium in March. Experts presented the case study at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases this weekend, saying it is believed to be the first known case of a double infection and underscores the need to be alert to this possibility.
The woman, whose medical history was unremarkable, experts said, had been admitted to hospital in Aalst, Belgium, in early March after a spate of falls. She tested positive for Covid-19 on the same day and then developed rapidly worsening respiratory symptoms. She died five days later. Genome sequencing of samples from the woman confirmed she was infected by the two variants.
She had not been vaccinated against Covid-19. Studies show that the main vaccines in use in the U.S. and Europe (the Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca-University of Oxford shots) are effective against the Covid variants that have emerged, preventing most hospitalizations and deaths.
“This is one of the first documented cases of co-infection with two SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern,” Dr. Anne Vankeerberghen, lead author of the case report and molecular biologist at the OLV Hospital in Aalst, said in a statement.
The World Health Organization’s last weekly epidemiological report on July 6 said that the alpha variant had now been reported in 173 countries, territories or areas, and the beta variant in 122 countries. Delta has been detected in 104 countries to date.
