First Flurona Cases Detected In US: Double COVID, Influenza Infection Explained

While the Omicron variant is still a major concern among health officials as it now makes up 95% of COVID-19 cases in the U.S., there is another disease that medical experts are worried about – flurona.

Flurona is a double infection of both COVID and influenza that was thought to first be detected in a pregnant, unvaccinated woman in Israel and has now been confirmed in patients in the U.S.

The World Health Organization said flurona has been reported in the U.S. and Asia, with co-infection rates of COVID and influenza patients in America sitting at around 0.4% and 4.5% in Asia, KSNT, an NBC afffliate in Topeka, Kansas, reported.

The double infection is expected to rise as flu season takes hold and the Omicron variant continues its high transmissibility spread.

One case in the U.S. was announced this week by the Texas Children’s Hospital in a child who was infected with both influenza and SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, USA Today reported. The hospital said the child was not hospitalized and is recovering at home.

“This is one confirmed case and, of course, we’ll be working with our colleagues across the country to see if there are more cases and whether we will see a distinct pattern in these cases,” Dr. Jim Versalovic, pathologist-in-chief and COVID-19 command center co-leader at the hospital, said on Monday during a news conference.

A Batesville, Mississippi, man also tested positive for COVID and influenza in what doctors called a “rarity,” WHBQ, a Fox affiliate in Memphis, Tennessee, said.

The man, Bobby Rose, was vaccinated, but had not received his COVID booster or flu shot, according to WHBQ. He was treated with Tamiflu and is drinking lots of fluids, the news outlet said.

“I feel a little better. I have never been that sick, and I don’t get sick — just shivering cold and body aches all the way down to the bone. It hurts to move,” Rose told WHBQ.

Symptoms of COVID-19, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, can include fever or chills, cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, fatigue, muscle or body aches, headache, a new loss of taste or smell, sore throat, congestion or runny nose, nausea or vomiting and diarrhea.

Flu symptoms, while similar to COVID in some instances, can include fever or feeling feverish, chills, cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, muscle or body aches, headaches, fatigue, vomiting or diarrhea, according to the CDC.