As the country battles with record numbers of infections of the latest variant of Covid-19, a new phenomenon of patients who have the Flu and Covid-19 is well on its way to becoming the next big threat.
Last week, the medical world was shocked after an unvaccinated pregnant woman in Israel tested positive for both the coronavirus and the common flu. Her diagnosis sparked a new term, “Flurona,” which now has experts scrambling as the first case was discovered this week in an unvaccinated teen in the United States.
Flurona refers to patients suffering from both COVID-19 and the common flu either simultaneously or back to back.
It is not a distinct disease or even a combination of the two diseases, but simply the word used to describe a patient who contracts both viruses in a short period.
Even before there was a name for it, “flurona” had been detected in patients in different pockets of the world.
Health experts believe the arrival of “flurona” cases can be attributed to the significant surge in Omicron cases, as the variant currently dominates the country’s covid infections.
Symptoms for both the common flu and COVID-19 have always had been very similar. They both include a cough, runny nose, sore throat, fever, headache, and fatigue.
But according to the World Health Organization, patients who test positive have varying levels of illness from either COVID-19 or influenza, which can range from no symptoms at all to severe and potentially deadly reactions.
Experts say catching both viruses simultaneously has the potential to produce a more severe reaction. Still, as is the case for either virus, a patient’s severity of illness and its symptoms varies and depends mainly on an individual’s immune system and, perhaps most importantly, whether or not they have been vaccinated against both influenza and Covid-19.
