A Belgian nonagenarian case contaminated by two types in an unprecedented way

This is “one of the first documented cases of co-infection with two disturbing variants of SARS-CoV-2”, assures the author of the study.

Belgian researchers on Sunday reported an unprecedented case of a non-human man who died in March 19 after being infected simultaneously with two different strains, alpha (British) and beta (South Africa).

“This is one of the first documented cases of co-infection with two disturbing variants of SARS-CoV-2,” said study molecular biologist Anne Vankirbergan. Cited in a press release from the European Congress of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID).

“It is difficult to say whether co-infection played a role.”

On March 3, 2021, this 90-year-old woman was admitted to a hospital in the Belgian city of Alsat after a series of falls without a specific medical history and was not vaccinated.

According to the ECCMID, Govit-19 was tested positive, with a non-initial “oxygen concentration of a good level and no signs of respiratory distress”. However, he “developed rapid respiratory symptoms quickly and died five days later,” the report said.

During extensive testing and deployment, the hospital found that he was infected with two strains of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which caused Covit-19: one was named alpha from Great Britain, and the other was first discovered in South Africa, called beta. According to a biologist at OLV Hospital in Allst, “it is difficult to say whether co-infection with both types played a role in the rapid deterioration of the patient’s condition.”

There were no other cases in which co-infections were published with both types

“Both types were in circulation in Belgium at the time (March 2021), so it seems that the woman may have been joined by two different people. Unfortunately, we do not know how she was affected,” the doctor continued. Vankirbergan.

ECCMID recalled that the alpha variant was announced on December 14, 2020 to the World Health Organization and the beta variant on December 18. They are spread over fifty and forty countries respectively.

To date, co-infections with two variants have “no other reported manifestations,” notes researcher Vankerbergen, who he considers “continuously” and consistently “important”.

Two individuals affected by two different types in Brazil were reported in a study in January that was “not yet published by a scientific journal,” ECCMID said.