An 89-year-old Dutch woman is the world’s first case of death following a second Covid-19 infection.
- Genetic analyzes of the virus, conducted post mortem, revealed that it is indeed two different strains of the virus, confirming that it is a second infection.
- No trace of antibodies was detected in his blood following the first infection.
While official cases of reinfection are becoming more and more numerous, the first case of a person dying from a second infection has appeared. She is an 89-year-old Dutch woman. This death was reported in an article published on October 9 in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.
Two different virus strains
59 days passed between the first and second infection of this octogenarian. The first infection led her to hospitalization for a severe cough. She was able to come out five days later but remained persistently tired. This woman also had a rare bone marrow cancer and started chemotherapy 59 days after the first infection. It was then that she developed a strong cough, fever and shortness of breath. Despite his immune deficiency due to immunosuppressive treatment, his condition did not lead doctors to fear for his life from the virus. “Its innate immune response and T cell immunity are normally sufficient to eliminate SARS-CoV-2”, wrote the researchers.
When she tested positive for Covid-19 a second time, no trace of antibodies were detected in her blood. This suggests, according to the researchers, that they did not persist after the first infection. Her condition deteriorated rapidly and she died two weeks later. Genetic analyzes of the virus, conducted post mortem, revealed that it is indeed two different strains of the virus, confirming that it is a second infection. “It is therefore likely that the second episode was a reinfection rather than a prolonged infection.”, confirm the researchers.
Sometimes the first infection is more serious, sometimes it is the second
Among official cases of reinfection with Covid-19, the second infection is not necessarily more serious than the first. Of the five global cases reported so far, three had a more severe first infection than the second. These results prove that the barrier measures must be respected by everyone, including those who have experienced a first infection and who remain under the threat of a new contamination. “People who have tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 should continue to take precautions, including physical distancing, wearing a mask and washing hands”, concluded Mark Pandori, researcher at the University of Nevada and author of the study, published on October 12 in the journal The Lancet Infectious Diseaseson the various worldwide cases of reinfection.
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