GREENSBORO, N.C. — An elderly woman in the Netherlands is believed to be the first person to die from being reinfected with coronavirus.
Doctors were treating her for a rare type of cancer when she first got sick.
She had a fever and severe cough then recovered five days after going to the emergency room. Then 59 days later she developed symptoms again. The symptoms returned two days after a chemotherapy appointment. She died weeks later.
There have only been a handful of documented cases globally of coronavirus reinfection.
Researchers said a Nevada 25-year-old was infected twice, by two different strands. His symptoms were more severe the second time, just like the Dutch woman.
That wasn't the case for another reinfection case in Hong Kong.
But experts said that person wasn't immuno-compromised like the Dutch woman.
Researchers are still learning about the virus but they said it's possible to get re-infected.