Belgian researchers said on July 11 that an unvaccinated 90-year-old woman was infected with both Alpha and Beta strains at the same time, and died 5 days after seeking medical treatment. Experts worry that due to insufficient testing, the probability of such cases may be underestimated, which may trigger a new wave of epidemics.
[Infected with double mutant virus, 90-year-old woman died 5 days after admission]
Researchers said that in March 2021, an unvaccinated 90-year-old woman living alone was sent to the hospital for a fall and tested positive for the new crown. At first, the woman’s blood oxygen concentration was good, but her condition deteriorated sharply and she passed away 5 days after admission.
Later, when the medical staff checked whether the deceased had any “variants of concern”, they found that she was infected with both the alpha variant strain first discovered in the UK and the beta variant strain first discovered in South Africa.
Wanke Bergen, a researcher and molecular biologist at the OLV Hospital in the central city of Aalster in Belgium, said: “These two variant viruses were circulating in Belgium at the time, so this lady may have contracted two different viruses from two different people. Unfortunately, we don’t know how she was infected.”
Wan Kebogen said that it is currently difficult to determine whether the infection of the two variant viruses is related to the rapid deterioration of the patient’s condition.
No other similar cases have been published in the medical report, but she believes that “this phenomenon is likely to be underestimated.” Wan Kebogen calls on countries to expand the use of rapid polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing to determine which coronavirus a patient is infected with.
Currently, this Belgian study has been submitted to the European Conference on Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID), and it is one of the first “recorded” cases of infection with double variants in the world.
However, although no similar cases have been published in medical journals, there have been reports that several Brazilian scientists reported in January this year that two people were infected with two variant strains at the same time. In addition, Portuguese researchers have also said that after treating a 17-year-old girl, she seemed to have contracted the second strain of the new coronavirus while she was still recovering from the infection.
Younger, a virologist at the University of Warwick in the United Kingdom, believes that it is not surprising to test two variant strains in a person, and the study of this situation is very important to further understand the characteristics of the coronavirus, including the possible symptoms of dual infection. And whether it will reduce the effectiveness of existing coronavirus vaccines.
[Variants continue to spread, threatening economic recovery]
At present, the delta variant virus has become the main epidemic strain in many places around the world.
The finance ministers of the Group of Twenty (G20) countries warned on the 10th that the current global economic recovery is characterized by serious international and internal differences, and “there are still downside risks, especially the spread of the new crown new variant virus.” His concern is the delta variant virus.
The finance ministers of various countries have also issued warnings about “asynchronous vaccinations” around the world. While some rich countries have vaccinated two-thirds of the people within their borders, the vaccination rate in many African countries is less than 5%.
French Minister of Economy Le Maire said, “The only threat to a sound and rapid economic recovery is the mutant virus and a new wave of epidemics. We must improve vaccination operations around the world.”
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