Israel has recorded the first case of a rare mixture of two diseases, influenza and coronavirus, in a woman. The disease has been dubbed “flurona”.
Local reports in Israel said that the patient is a young pregnant woman, who is currently admitted to the Beilinson Hospital in Petach Tikva city, where she presented mild symptoms.
“She was diagnosed with the flu and coronavirus as soon as she arrived,” professor Arnon Vizhnitser, director of the hospitals’ Gynaecology Department, told local newspaper Hamodia. “Both tests came back positive, even after we checked again.”
“The disease is the same disease; they’re viral and cause difficulty breathing since both attack the upper respiratory tract,” he added.
The Israeli health ministry said that they were studying the case to determine if the combination of the two infections can cause a more serious illness.
The woman is expected to be discharged on Thursday.
While she is the first documented case to be diagnosed with both diseases simultaneously, doctors believe that there are more cases in the country.
“We are seeing more and more pregnant women with the flu. It is definitely a great challenge dealing with a woman who comes in with a fever at childbirth,” said Mr Vizhnitser. “This is especially when you do not know if it’s coronavirus or the flu, so you refer to them the same. Most of the illness is respiratory.”
Meanwhile, Israel began administering the fourth vaccine shots to individuals with compromised immune systems on Friday to curb the spread of the Omicron variant, reported The Times of Israel.
Though Israel had lifted outdoor mask mandates in April and only made them must for large gatherings, the country has been witnessing a steady surge in cases.
Health ministry data showed that 5,000 cases were recorded as of Friday. There have been 1,376,256 infections and 8,243 coronavirus-related deaths reported in the country since the pandemic began.
On Thursday, the head of the Israeli army’s coronavirus task force warned that the healthcare system will “collapse” as Omicron spreads across the country, according to Haaretz.
AP