‘Flurona’: First verified case of a rare double infection of covid-19 and influenza reported in Israel

A newly documented threat dubbed “Flurona,” is the simultaneous infection of the coronavirus and influenza, and Israeli health officials have documented the world’s first verified case, reports say.

According to The Daily Beast, the new threat presented in a young unvaccinated pregnant woman, who was unaware she had either disease, upon going into labor last week.

Upon entering the Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva, Israel, the woman was tested but was said to have relatively mild symptoms.

The Times of Israel cited Arnon Vizhnitser, the director of the hospital’s gynecology department, who said, “The disease is the same disease. They’re viral and cause difficulty breathing since both attack the upper respiratory tract.”

The woman was released from the hospital on Thursday in good condition, The Times reported.

Reportedly, the case is still being studied by the Health Ministry to see whether a combination of the two viruses caused more severe illness.

While Newsweek reported that the Israeli case was the first simultaneous infection of covid-19 and the flu, The Times of Israel cited a Nov. 2021 report by The Atlantic, which detailed an incident in late February 2020 — only a couple of weeks after the coronavirus had been given a formal name — where “a man with a terrible cough and fever showed up at one of the ProHealth Urgent Care centers in Queens, New York.” Testing indicated that the man was infected with both viruses, and it turns out that his wife and children were also infected with covid-19 and the flu.

Israel has seen a spike in flu cases in recent weeks, amid fears of a “twindemic” of the two diseases — the term referring to overwhelming cases of each viral infection, not necessarily cases of people with both infections at the same time, The Times of Israel explained.

Newsweek cited Reuters, which noted that rising covid-19 cases in Israel are being reported at about 2,308 new cases per day, despite its high vaccination rate.