Can two coronavirus variants infect someone at the same time? Explainer of the Day

In a first documented case of a human infected with two different variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, a Belgian woman aged 90 years old was found to be infected with two coronavirus variants at the same time.

In March 2021, the woman was detected to be infected with both the Alpha and Beta variants of the coronavirus. She was hospitalized for treatment but died five days after admission.

Her case was taken up at the annual European Congress on Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases.

Are cases of “double infection” possible?

•Experts state that cases of double infection of SARS-CoV-2 variants are rare but they are not impossible. It has happened before that people have contracted other infectious diseases from several persons over a short period.

•A person can be infected by any or all the infected persons he or she is exposed to. Meanwhile, the virus is multiplying and infecting other cells in the body, other healthy cells available become to host the virus from several other sources.

•Cases of double infection have been a common instance among HIV patients, experts state.

Cases of ‘double infection’: Transmission rate and Testing

•Experts state that a person infected with different variants does not transmit the infection at every instance of contact. The transmission rate of double infection is found to be low.

•The probability of a person contracting an infection from all the infected persons he or she was exposed to is found to be statistically low. However, a person contracting an infection from multiple variants at the same time is very rare.

•Experts state the case of the Belgian woman Is the only first case of double infection to be detected. There must be many more such cases around the world, but one can only know if one conducts a genome analysis of the virus sample of the infected person.

•Even then, the experts say that in case of multiple infections from the same variant of the virus, the differences in the genome sequences are very minor to be detected and can be overlooked.

Double Infection: Multiple variants at same time affect severity?

•Experts state that infection from multiple variants does not affect the condition of the patient in any way. All the variants will affect the patient in a similar way, whether the infection is from a single variant or multiple variants of the virus.

•The health and immunity of the infected person and the lethality of the virus influence the severity of the infection. The number of sources is not related to the severity of the infection which means a person infected with two or more variants will not make them any sicker than a person infected with one variant of SARS-CoV-2.

Is ‘double infection’ cause of concern?

•Experts state the case of double infection is not a cause of concern. All vaccines currently are found to effective against all different variants of SARS-CoV-2.

•Treatment for infection with different variants is similar as for all the variants. Till now, no variant of coronavirus has been found to escape the immune system completely, it is no cause for concern.