You’d be forgiven for letting out a sigh of distress, cupping your head in your hands or not even wanting to know what on earth ‘Flurona’ is after the last two years of terms added to the COVID-19 variant dictionary. However, if curiosity is the case for you, here’s the story with the latest term.
Recent reports alert that Israel has recorded the ‘first case’ of the hybrid infection. The term speaks for itself – ‘Flurona’ is a mixture of influenza and coronavirus. However, conflicting reports express that patients having both viruses simultaneously was already the case as early as 2020 in other parts of the world like the US as the Times of Israel expresses. Beyond the ‘who had it first’ narrative, the current situation pertains to doctors trying to assess the intensity level of having both infections simultaneously – and giving the combination a name.
The patient that’s being dubbed the ‘first case’ was a young pregnant woman who was hospitalised despite mild symptoms as The Independent reports.
“She was diagnosed with the flu and coronavirus as soon as she arrived,” said Arnon Vizhnitser, director of the gynaecology department of Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva city where the woman was admitted.
“Both tests came back positive, even after we checked again,” he told a local newspaper.
The diseases are both viral and cause difficulty breathing as they attack the upper respiratory tract.
The Israeli health ministry has said it is studying the case to determine whether the combination of the two infections can cause a more serious illness.
Vizhnitser added that they’re seeing more and more pregnant women with the flu in the country, and they believe that despite this particular patient being the first diagnosed there, she is likely not the only one.
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