The doctor, despite being fully vaccinated, got infected with both Alpha and Delta variants of SARS-CoV-2, and the RMRC lab detected the double infection in the patient in May.
A woman doctor in Assam may be the country’s first case of a Covid-19 patient infected with two different variants of the virus at the same time, Dr B Borkakoty, senior scientist at the ICMRs Regional Medical Research Centre (RMRC) in Dibrugarh, said.
The doctor, despite being fully vaccinated, got infected with both Alpha and Delta variants of SARS-CoV-2, and the RMRC lab detected the double infection in the patient in May.
There have been few such instances in the UK, Brazil and Portugal but such a case has not been reported from India so far, Dr Borkakoty said.
A month after receiving the second dose, the woman and her husband, both doctors at a Covid Care Centre, tested Covid-19 positive and the latter was infected with the Alpha variant.
“We collected their samples again and the second round of tests re-confirmed the double infection in her. We also did whole genome sequencing and it made us sure that it was a case of being infected by both variants at the same time,” Dr Borkakoty said.
The woman who had a mild sore throat, body ache and insomnia, recovered without hospitalisation, he added.
“A dual infection happens when two variants infect one person simultaneously or within a very short period,” Dr Borkakoty said.
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