The coronavirus pandemic is taking lives worldwide ... and it apparently contributed to an Italian nurse taking her own life over the "heavy stress" of testing positive and possibly spreading it to others.
Daniela Trezzi -- a 34-year-old nurse who'd been treating patients at the San Gerardo Hospital in Monza in the very hard-hit region of Lombardy -- reportedly took her own life after spending a couple weeks at home sick.
She was presumably in quarantine after being diagnosed with COVID-19 earlier this month, but according to reports ... she had been working in the ICU of the hospital for days before Italy went on lockdown.
Trezzi was reportedly distraught over the notion she had spread the virus to other patients she worked on before she knew she had coronavirus herself.
Her hospital's general manager said she'd been home since March 10, but was not under surveillance. Her death is under investigation.
The National Federation of Nurses in Italy expressed "pain and dismay" over Trezzi's death, saying ... "Each of us has chosen this profession for good and, unfortunately, also for bad: we are nurses."
The federation added a similar instance of a nurse suicide occurred last week in Venice due to the "stress to which our professionals are subjected."
As you know ... Italy has been particularly ravaged by the coronavirus, and nearly 6,000 health care workers have been infected.