Flurona: Is it cause for concern? 

Beginning in early 2020, a number of concerns were raised about what impact the arrival of seasonal influenza would have later in the fall in the middle of a COVID-19 pandemic, since each of these two respiratory infections is potentially fatal in the elderly and those with weakened immune systems. Imagine a combination of the two! But since no knowledge of this possible co-infection existed, the only recommendation was vaccination against the seasonal flu, complemented by the COVID-19 vaccine once it became available. 

However, due to health measures such as mask wearing, physical distancing and hand washing, there was no significant flu activity in 2020-2021. Only four cases were confirmed in Quebec at the end of the flu vaccination period (32 in Canada), compared to several thousand cases in previous years.[3]   

Therefore, fears faded until January 2021, when Israel reported a first case of co-infection with SARS-CoV-2 and the flu virus in a pregnant woman.[4] This was when the term “flurona” first appeared. However, while the article was careful to mention that it was the first documented case in Israel, it was not the first co-infection in the world.  

As early as March 2020, a co-infection had been diagnosed in a New York family.[5] As well, in December 2021, a meta-analysis focused on more than 900 cases of co-infection reported in the scientific literature since the beginning of the pandemic.[6] 

Because the number of confirmed cases is so small, it is difficult to know whether co-infection is more dangerous than single infection. The case reported in New York at the start of the pandemic was described as severe, while the case of the woman in Israel was rather mild.    

A meta-analysis of 12 studies involving 9,500 individuals with both COVID-19 and influenza appears to show that co-infection has no significant effect on disease severity and mortality. However, this conclusion should be interpreted with caution. Mortality was lower in Chinese studies, but higher in studies from other countries.[7] Therefore, further research is needed before a statement can be made about the dangers of co-infection. 

When the co-infection case was announced in Israel, many people, based on their knowledge of variants, mistakenly thought that flurona was a new super virus created from two viruses that had merged.   

This type of merger or recombination is possible when both viruses are from the same family. However, this is not the case with SARS-CoV-2, which belongs to the coronavirus family, and the influenza virus, which belongs to the orthomyxovirus family. Furthermore, their origins are different: the flu virus originated in birds, while SARS-CoV-2 very likely comes from a mammal (bat, pangolin). The structure of the two viruses is also very different, which does not favour the possibility of a merger.[8]  

We provide services that can help your doctor diagnose COVID-19 and related respiratory problems.

• COVID-19: Detection and other tests
• Respiratory multiplex PCR
• Streptococcus throat by PCR If you have any questions or would like more information, do not hesitate to contact Biron Health Group's customer service at 1 833 590-2712.