A woman in the Netherlands died during her second battle with COVID-19, marking the first case of a fatal reinfection of the virus.
The New York Post cited a study in the peer-reviewed journal Clinical Infectious Diseases, which detailed what happened to the 89-year-old patient.
She was diagnosed with the virus earlier this year but quickly recovered, according to the study. But she developed symptoms again two months later and eventually died.
The patient, according to the study, "developed fever, cough," and had trouble breathing before testing positive for the second time. The positive test was taken two days following a chemotherapy treatment she was given for non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
"At day 8, the condition of the patient deteriorated. She died two weeks later," the study reads.
No dates were given for when the patient tested positive or died.
"It is likely that the second episode was a reinfection rather than prolonged shedding," the study reads.
Scientists and pharmaceutical companies are racing to develop a COVID-19 vaccine. One trial with Johnson & Johnson has been paused because someone in the phase three trial fell ill.
Worldwide, 38.2 million people have been sickened with COVID-19 and more than 1 million have died.
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