As Omicron cases continue to surge across the world, health experts have raised concerns over the detection of the first case of “Florona disease” – a double infection of COVID-19 and influenza – in Israel.
Reports say the first case of Florona was detected in an unvaccinated pregnant woman admitted to the Rabin Medical centre to give birth. However, there has been no confirmation that the woman was diagnosed with either COVID-19 or influenza.
The ‘Florona disease’ it was gathered is not a new variant of COVID-19 and so far, there has been no fresh information available on the symptoms.
According to the World Health Organisation, WHO, it is possible to catch both COVID-19 and the flu at the same time as the viruses share similar symptoms, and both can be fatal.
Israeli doctors said the disease is being studied as the country witnessed a spike of influenza cases believed to be fuelled by the Omicron variant in the last few weeks.
Dr Nahla Abdel Wahab, a doctor at Cairo University Hospital, was quoted as saying that Florona may indicate a major breakdown of the immune system coping with two viruses entering the body at the same time.
While the experts agree that the co-infection of viruses occurs frequently in nature,