Two patients in Brazil tested positive for more than one coronavirus strain at the same time in what is believed to be the world’s first double Covid infection.
Researchers at Feevale University made the discovery after scrubbing 90 infected people in Rio Grande do Sul, in southern Brazil.
One of the patients tested positive for two Brazilian strains that evolved separately in different states, known as P.1 and P.2.
P.1 caused international alarm because it appears to be somewhat resistant to vaccines, which has led Britain to ban all travel from South America.
Another patient tested positive for P.2 and strain B.1.91, which first appeared in Sweden at the same time, according to the study, which has not yet been published in a scientific journal or analyzed by other scientists.
Fernando Spilki, the lead researcher in the study, said he feared that coinfections “would generate combinations and generate new variants even more quickly”.
Dr. John McCauley, director of the Worldwide Influenza Center at the Francis Crick Institute in London, told MailOnline that it was possible for someone to become infected with two strains at the same time, which can happen with the flu.
He warned that, although unlikely, it is also biologically possible that the two strains could interfere with each other and exchange the genetic code.
‘Putting one thread in one nostril and another in another nostril does not matter … but (the risk is) if they reach the bottom of the throat and then enter the same cell – then there is an opportunity for that to happen. ‘
Another senior scientist, who asked to remain anonymous, said that it is possible that Brazilian scientists have contaminated their samples during sequencing, leading to incorrect results.
Brazil is in the middle of a second devastating wave from Covid, with more than 1,000 deaths per day, and has the second highest number of fatalities in the world. At least two variants have emerged there, which experts believe to be due to the high level of sustained transmission, and several more are in circulation.
In the photo above is the spread of the B.1.1.28 strain that is the mother of the Brazilian strain, which is causing great concern worldwide
And this is the spread of the B.1.91 strain that first appeared in Sweden
Scientists said it is possible that someone could be infected with two strains of the virus at the same time. Above is Covid-19 and its peak proteins, which it uses to invade cells
Both cases of double infection were reported in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Dr. Julian Tang, a professor of respiratory sciences at the University of Leicester, said it was “not uncommon” for two strains of a virus to infect the same person.
‘It is quite possible that a child who attends primary school will be infected with a variant of Covid-19 and an older brother will attend secondary school and be infected with a different variant of Covid-19 – and that both children will bring their viruses home to infect each other – and their parents with both variants, ‘he told MailOnline.
Professor Lawrence Young, a virologist at the University of Warwick, said it was unlikely that two strains of Covid-19 could infect a cell at the same time.
“If a virus enters, it takes over that cell and it is difficult for another to enter,” he told MailOnline.
He added that changes in the virus were driven by random mutations: ‘It mutates at a very low rate and many (its mutations are) in response to the low pressure we put on it.’
He said that it is through this mechanism that changes in the virus are taking place and new strains are evolving, and there is no evidence that variants have emerged after the exchange of genes between different viruses.
Professor Keith Neal, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Nottingham, said that if there is a lot of transmission ‘you can catch two different viruses at the same time’.
But he cautioned that when there is a predominant strain – like the Kent version in large parts of the UK – people are likely to just take this one.
Covid-19 has evolved using mutations during the pandemic, which are triggered when the virus makes mistakes when making copies of itself.
Changing the N501Y, which makes the virus more infectious, is an example. It occurred separately in the Kent, South Africa and Brazil variants.
The variants raised fears that the virus could mutate to circumvent the immunity triggered by the vaccines, based on the original form identified in Wuhan, China.
But studies show that while strains appear to make the current crop of vaccines less potent, jabs are still sufficient to kill the mutant variant.
However, vaccine developers are already working on booster shots to ensure they are ‘ahead of the curve’ should a variant arise that could prevent immunity from attacks.
The patient samples were sequenced in a laboratory to confirm that the patients had been infected with the virus, with the results published as a preprint, meaning that they have not been verified by other scientists.
The issue comes when heads of health began mass testing door to door in parts of England today, after 11 people tested positive for the South African variant of the virus who had no travel connections, suggesting that the strain is spreading in the community.
In a desperate attempt to track down the mutant virus that experts fear could damage the current vaccine crop, health officials will visit homes in Woking in Surrey, Walsall in the West Midlands, as well as parts of London, Kent, Hertfordshire and Lancashire.
More than 80,000 over the age of 16 will be targeted as part of the massive surveillance scheme and residents will be invited to take a test, regardless of whether they have symptoms or not. Local health workers will go door to door, as will police, fire and municipal workers.
In addition to knocking on doors and asking residents to test on the spot, extra mobile swab units will be deployed in all eight postal codes and home test kits will be available to order online for residents to do themselves.
Public Health England has detected 105 cases of the South African variant ‘B.1.351’ since December 22, including at least 11 people – spread across the eight areas that received extra tests – who were infected with the virus but had no history of disease international travel.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said an “improved contact tracking” was carried out to isolate contacts close to the 11 patients. Currently, there is no evidence that the variant causes more serious illnesses and early studies suggest that the current crop of jabs is good enough to protect it.
Covid-19 has evolved using mutations during the pandemic, which are triggered when the virus makes mistakes when making copies of itself.
Changing the N501Y, which makes the virus more infectious, is an example. It occurred separately in the Kent, South Africa and Brazil variants.
The variants raised fears that the virus could mutate to circumvent the immunity triggered by the vaccines, based on the original form identified in Wuhan, China.
But studies show that, although strains appear to make the current crop of vaccines less potent, jabs are still sufficient to kill the mutant variant.
However, vaccine developers are already working on booster shots to ensure they are ‘ahead of the curve’ should a variant arise that could prevent immunity from attacks.