A teenager from Denver has died after fighting COVID-19 a second time, his loved ones said.
Wilber Portillo, 18, first contracted the contagious disease after traveling with his cousin to Los Angeles, Denver reports.
Two months after recovering from the virus, he was apparently hit again and developed a fever after a party where two other people tested positive for COVID-19.
Portillo went to the doctor’s office on November 18, where he was said to have a “very strong infection in his lungs.”
‘It was the last [time] I heard from him, “Portillo’s friend Andrea Ferrel told the news station KDVR.
That night, the teenager died in his sleep, the stores reported.
“It’s a little hard to know he no longer exists physically,” Castillo told Denverite. “He was a man with a lot of light.”
It is not known what caused his death, but the doctor’s office informed his family two days later that he had tested positive for the virus.
“It just surprised us how it happened,” Castillo said. “We will never find out what caused his death.”
Reports do not confirm whether Castillo – an urban farmer and budding entrepreneur – fell ill with a mutated virus strain.
Health experts said reinfection is possible, but cases are rare.
Portillo’s cousin, Jamie Gomez-Gonzalez, is appealing to people to take the virus seriously, “no matter how young or healthy you may look.”
“Please stay home as much as possible,” he wrote on a GoFundMe page to cover funeral expenses.