World Health Organization declared that COVID-19 is caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), on March 11, 2020, to be a pandemic.
World Health Organization declared that COVID-19 is caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), on March 11, 2020, to be a pandemic. While the strain that COVID-19 is putting on healthcare systems, societies, and economies worldwide is unprecedented, comparisons have often been drawn with the 1918 influenza pandemic.
Also, the pandemic preparedness plans currently used in many countries are largely based on the experience of several influenza pandemics during the last few decades. Both COVID-19 and seasonal influenza are viral respiratory infections that are typically spread from person to person by respiratory droplets or aerosols. Both COVID-19 and influenza can be fatal.
The same protective measures that work against COVID-19 and influenza are wearing a face mask, keeping a minimum 1-metre distance from other people, staying away from crowded and poorly ventilated areas, using a tissue or a bent elbow to sneeze or cough, keeping your hands clean often, and not touching your mouth, nose, or eyes.
Most importantly, Vaccination is important for preventing serious diseases and deaths from both influenza and COVID-19.
Additionally, is it possible that someone could be infected with COVID-19 and the flu at the same time? Recently, stories about people who have both the flu and the coronavirus have made startling headlines. “Flurona” is defined as a situation in which a single patient is diagnosed with both COVID-19 and influenza simultaneously.
The word “Flurona” was coined by the Israeli Outbreak Management Advisory Team to indicate the possibility of getting both the flu and COVID-19 at the same time in late 2020. The first case of a person infected with COVID-19, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome, and influenza was confirmed in an unvaccinated woman with the term “Flurona” in the gynaecology department of Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva City, Isreal.
Flurona has been identified in a teenage unvaccinated patient in Los Angeles. According to media reports, other people have also tested positive for the flu and COVID-19 in Texas and Florida, and before that, in Israel, Brazil, Hungary, and the Philippines.
The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention’s data shows the symptoms of the flu include fever, cough, runny or stuffy nose, sore throat, headache, body aches, and fatigue. With the addition of loss of taste or smell, COVID-19 shares the majority of those symptoms.
Although some people are becoming infected with flu and COVID-19 at the same time, Judith O’Donnell, M.D., division chief of infectious diseases at Penn Presbyterian Medical Centre, says there’s no need to panic about Flurona becoming a new “super virus.”
“The term appears to imply that the viruses have somehow merged; however, that is untrue. It’s just possible for someone to be infected with two respiratory viruses in short succession or at the same time. The best way to protect yourself and your family is to get vaccinated. It is safe to get the flu and the COVID-19 shot or booster at the same time.