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Israeli media reports the case of a pregnant woman infected with both influenza and Covid-19. She had mild symptoms and was discharged from the hospital. This co-infection, called “Flurona”, has already been identified in the United States.
A coinfection and not a new variant
In Israel, authorities have reported the case of a hospitalized pregnant woman infected with both Covid-19 and the flu virus. She had mild symptoms. This double infection is baptized by Internet users Flurona for “flu”, diminutive of “influenza”, flu in English, and “coronavirus”. This is not a new variant, but a co-infection. The patient was infected with both viruses at the same time. She was not vaccinated against any of these pathogens.
“She was diagnosed with the flu and coronavirus upon arrival. Both tests came back positive, even after we checked again.” said Arnon Vizhnitser, director of the hospital’s gynecology department, according to Times of Israel.
“Both diseases are viral and cause breathing difficulties because both attack the upper respiratory tract.” The young woman left the hospital and is doing well. The country’s health ministry was watching her case to see if the combination of the two viruses caused more serious illness.
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Flurona, a “misleading” term
The media specifies that this is not the first global case, but the first case diagnosed in Israel. Indeed patients “With both influenza and COVID-19 surfaced in the United States as early as the spring of 2020” we learn in the article.
For Etienne Decroly, research director for the CNRS in Marseille and member of the French Society of Virology interviewed by CheckNews, the term Flurona “is misleading”, because it suggests that it is a new virus, whereas it is a co-infection. “No proven risk of the emergence of a chimeric virus, or of recombination between these viruses has been demonstrated to date” he reassures.
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