It’s called Flurona, and it’s the simultaneous contagion of Covid and flu. The name comes from the meeting of the word flu, which means flu in English, and coronavirus. This is not a new discovery. We’ve been talking about it since the autumn of 2020, but it had always been considered a theoretical possibility, rather than a real reality. The first double contagion verified by experts was recorded in Israel and dates back to December 2021.
Simultaneous contagion of Covid and influenza: the international study
Now a British study explains that the cases are not as rare as previously thought. All of Europe is full of cases of both viral diseases. The Health Services of all the countries of the Old Continent produce data with very high numbers. Experts estimate that the peak for both infections will be reached during the end-of-year holidays.
The results of the English study speak of an increase in risk of serious symptoms and even hospitalization and death. Researchers at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland analyzed data from more than 200 adult patients admitted to hospital after having double infection.
The patients analyzed after hospitalization from Covid numbered tens of thousands. The University of Liverpool, Imperial College London and Leiden University in the Netherlands also participated in the study. You can read the results in the scientific journal The Lancet.
Simultaneous contagion of Covid and flu increases the risk of serious consequences
The 227 patients with the simultaneous infection experienced significantly more severe symptoms than those with either Covid or the flu. Double contagion increases the risk of death by 2.4 times compared to those who are only sick with Covid and four times the risk of needing mechanical ventilation.
What happens if the two viruses enter the body at the same time?
First of all it must be said that it is difficult to understand this. The symptoms may overlap and are not that different. If we also have a high fever, we may think it’s one or the other. If we undergo a swab test that gives a positive result for Covid, we will be led to think that we have the infection caused by the Coronavirus.
The symptoms, as we said, are more or less always the same:
fever, sore throat, headache, cough, muscle pain.
However, co-infections can lead to important consequences, because they increase the risk of complications and sick days with serious symptoms. In Great Britain, experts have estimated that Flurona has affected 8% of patients testing positive for Covid.
The risk of having to be mechanically ventilated in these cases doubles. This is one of the reasons why doctors ask the fragile people to have the two vaccinesboth the one against Covid and the flu shot.
Those who have good general health can feel quite comfortable
Experts reassure, maintaining that those who are in good general health, may experience a strong influencewith high fever and pain, but with plenty of rest and adherence to an antipyretic, therefore anti-fever, or anti-inflammatory therapy should be enough.
Who needs to be careful
Children, elderly people, cancer patients, those with immune system diseases, pregnant women instead they must be more cautious. These are the categories for which double vaccination is recommended, because they are at greater risk of developing complications.
When we should worry
As long as the situation is manageable, you can stay at home, perhaps in contact with your doctor. However, there are some symptoms that must make us go to the emergency room:
difficulty breathing, chest pain, drowsiness so deep that it prevents you from staying awake, confusion, worsening of any pre-existing diseases, dehydration, cyanosis, i.e. the bluish color of nails and lips.