A woman in Holland has become the first reported person to die after being reinfected by Covid-19.
The 89-year-old patient died in the Netherlands under three weeks after contracting Covid-19 for a second time, according to an academic paper published by the Oxford University Press.
At the time of her death she was undergoing chemotherapy for a rare type of white blood cell cancer called Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia which is a treatable but incurable form of blood cancer.
Researchers said the woman arrived at the emergency department earlier this year while suffering from a fever and severe cough, Dutch News reports.
She tested positive for coronavirus and was in hospital for five days, after which her symptoms subsided completely, except for persisting fatigue, the paper said.
Nearly two months later, and just two days after starting a new round of chemotherapy, she developed a fever, cough, and shortness of breath.
When she was admitted to hospital, her oxygen saturation was 90 percent with a respiratory rate of 40 breaths per minute. She again tested positive for coronavirus while tests for antibodies were negative at days four and six.
“At day eight, the condition of the patient deteriorated. She died two weeks later,” the researchers said.
After analysing test samples taken from the patient, scientists said the genetic makeup of each virus she had was different – leading them to conclude that it was ‘likely’ that she got reinfected with Covid-19.
It comes after reports that a 25-year-old man in the US caught a slightly different Coronavirus strain - with his second bout so severe he ended up in hospital being treated with oxygen.
