A Denver teenager died after fighting COVID-19 a second time, his loved ones said.
Wilber Portillo, 18, contracted the infectious disease for the first time after traveling with his cousin to Los Angeles, Denverite reported.
Two months after recovering from the virus, he was apparently attacked again, developing a fever after a party at which two other people tested positive for COVID-19, the agency said.
Portillo went to the doctor’s office on November 18, where he was told he had a “very strong lung infection”.
“That was the last [time] I heard from him, ”Portillo’s girlfriend, Andrea Ferrel, told the KDVR news station.
That night, the teenager died in his sleep, the media reported.
“It’s a little difficult to know that he no longer exists physically,” Castillo told Denverite. “He was a guy with a lot of light.”
It is not known what caused his death, but the doctor’s office informed his family two days after he had tested positive for the virus.
“It just took us by surprise how it happened,” said Castillo. “We will never find out what caused his death.”
The reports did not confirm whether Castillo – an urban farmer and start-up entrepreneur – fell ill with a mutant strain of the virus.
Health experts said reinfection is possible, but cases are rare.
Portillo’s cousin, Jamie Gomez-Gonzalez, is encouraging people to take the virus seriously, “no matter how young or healthy you may look.”
“Please stay at home as long as you can,” he wrote on a GoFundMe page to cover funeral costs.