Influenza and Covid at the same time?Your “Flurona” question, answer

Report on double infection with Influenza virus And that coronavirus I’ve been making sensational headlines lately. Last week, Israel said,Fururona, “For unvaccinated females, then Growing Number of Case of Children In the United States. There was no serious illness, but it was named “flurona”.

“It sounds like’Sharknado’,” said Dr. Saad B. Omer, director of the Yale University Global Health Institute. “But that’s not a known medical term.”

When the flu season begins, Omicron variant It continues to grow exponentially, but how much do we need to worry about? I consulted with an expert to better understand what it means to test positive for both infections. This is what we have learned.

Why are you listening to this now?

Since the beginning of the pandemic, people have been positive for both Covid-19 and the flu or the flu.

From late January to late March 2020, Chinese researchers Almost 100 cases Percentage of patients in Wuhan who tested positive for both illnesses. Atlantic That February I reported on the Queens family who were positive for both infections.And the researchers in Barcelona Paper in May 2020 Describes four people who suffered from both illnesses early in the pandemic.

At that time, before vaccines became available, it seemed unusual for such co-infection, or what infectious disease experts call co-infection. A Spring 2020 research In New York City, for example, about 1,200 Covid-19 patients were tested for other respiratory viruses, such as the flu and cold-causing viruses, and then only 36, or less than 3%, were found to be infected at the same time. rice field. Last winter, the cold and flu seasons were also remarkably calm, there were few social occasions, and many people wore masks.

“The reason we didn’t talk much about it is that it hasn’t been clinically challenged yet,” said Dr. Jonathan D. Grain, an infectious disease specialist and director of hospital epidemiology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Told. “We expect more coinfections to be seen as the flu spreads.” If it becomes a serious problem, experts expect to know more about it in the coming months. doing.

Does coinfection make me twice as sick?

Coinfection does not immediately mean that the patient becomes doubly ill. A single infection can stimulate some additional protection, as a strong immune response may actually help the body fight all types of pathogens.

“Infection in one may help help the immune response to the other, because it activates the same immune response that is effective in fighting both,” Dr. Grain said. rice field.

Still, few people test positive for both Covid-19 and the flu, so scientists are still uncertain. But judging from past trends, doctors aren’t too worried.

“The majority of people with the flu are doing well. The majority of people with Covid do well, especially if they are vaccinated,” said Dr. Andrew D. Badley. increase. With an infectious disease specialist Chairman of the Mayo Clinic SARS-CoV-2 Covid-19 Task Force. “It’s hard to predict, but we expect the majority of people who are co-infected with the two viruses to work,” he continued.

However, as Dr. Budley and other experts have pointed out, one infection is generally better than two. There is a high probability of complications from the two infections, which increases the burden on the body.

“The human immune system can produce antibodies against multiple pathogens at the same time,” said an epidemiologist at the University of California, Irvine, studying influenza and an associate professor of population health and disease prevention. Dr. Andrew Neumer said.

“But given the choice of infecting one or two, I always choose one,” he continued, “two aren’t much worse than one, but the virus. The less threat you have, the better. “

Who is the most vulnerable?

Dr. Omar, a professor of infectious diseases and epidemiology at Yale University, identified two groups that he considered most susceptible to coinfection.

First: Unvaccinated adults. “People who reject one vaccine may also reject the other, based on previous studies of vaccination,” he said. He said he expects “there is considerable overlap between those who reject both vaccines.”

Second, children, especially children under the age of 5, are too young to be vaccinated with Covid-19. As parents say, children are also Petri dishes and have less flu cycles. So even if the child is vaccinated against the flu, Dr. Omar said that “their library of protection is narrow” for many viral flu strains that may emerge each year.

What are the risks of frailty or the elderly?

Experts agreed that patients who are already vulnerable to a serious illness with one illness may suffer further from double infection.

“People who would have had bad consequences from the flu can have very bad consequences from the combination of flu and Covid,” Dr. Budley said.

What are the risks for children?

Pediatricians were optimistic that “Flurona” would not overwhelm most children. This is because children are more likely than adults to have multiple infections at the same time.

Dr. Frank Esper, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at the Cleveland Clinic Children’s Hospital, said: “We are always seeing coinfection.”

“We anticipate coinfection with the coronavirus,” continued Dr. Esper. “I don’t think it’s alarming,” his research team said. Coinfection with various respiratory viruses found It is more common in children than in adults. Other early studies Similarly, he said, it suggests that children will not get sick if they are infected with two simultaneous viruses.

Dr. Aaron M. Millstone, a professor of pediatric infectious diseases at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, also said he was cautiously optimistic. “It doesn’t mean that the immune response is twice as aggressive or causes twice as many symptoms,” he said, just because the child has two viruses.

“Because of the co-circulation of the virus, it’s very reassuring, especially for parents, that they haven’t seen many children come to the hospital because of severe coinfection,” Dr. Milstone said. “It doesn’t mean that the intensive care unit will suddenly have more children,” he added.

What if both viruses test positive?

First and foremost, don’t panic. It can be extra stress, but that doesn’t mean you’re likely to get extra illness. Also, there is already one virus and it may have recovered from it, but it is still shown in the test results.

Contact your doctor if your symptoms are severe or if you have breathing problems. Doctors said they would treat patients with both infections, perhaps as they would treat only one patient. Experts do not believe that the treatments will work together or cause problems for the patient’s body.

“Determining treatment for Covid has to do with how sick you are,” said Dr. Budley. “If you get the flu at the same time, it doesn’t change. What can change is that you may also get treatment for the flu.”

How can I prevent coinfection?

In this regard, the medical advice is consistent: vaccination with both Covid and flu. And get the vaccine now.

Both children and adults can be vaccinated with both vaccines at the same time. Children over the age of 5 are eligible for the Covid-19 vaccine, and children over the age of 6 months can be vaccinated against the flu.

“We have been vaccinated with multiple vaccines at the same time for decades,” said Dr. Budley, but without any negative effects. When given together, “the side effects are the same”, “and the side effects of both vaccines are very low”.

In addition, experts agree that masks should be worn when appropriate and that means of maintaining social distance be maintained. Since both influenza and coronavirus are airborne viruses, limiting exposure can reduce the likelihood of infection.

“If you don’t want to get a coronavirus or get the flu, the best thing you can do is basically do everything you did last year,” said Dr. Esper.