First Cases Of ‘Flurona,’​ A Diagnosis Of Both The Flu And COVID, Reported In FL: Report

FLORIDA — With COVID-19 cases surging throughout Florida, “flurona” has found its way to the Sunshine State.

A Cape Coral man has been diagnosed with one of the first cases of “flurona” — a term referring to people who are simultaneously infected with both the flu and coronavirus — in Florida, as well as the United States.

Erick Salazar told NBC 2 that he hadn’t even heard of “flurona” before testing positive for both viruses.

“Not until Monday when I got the results,” he said. “When (the doctor) came back she was like ‘Sorry buddy, you actually have both.’”

The flu and the coronavirus have similar symptoms, including fever, cough, fatigue, runny nose, sore throat, and muscle and body aches, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Salazar said his worst symptoms were fatigue and lack of energy.

South Florida hospitals have also seen some of these so-called cases of “flurona” in children, reports said.

Dr. Larry Bush, an infectious disease specialist in Wellington, told WPTV, "We're seeing it more in children because, A, children are less vaccinated against COVID, particularly younger children. B, children are less vaccinated against flu.”

“Flurona” can be dangerous for children, especially those under 2 years old, Dr. Juan Dumois, a pediatric infectious diseases physician at Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital, told ABC Action News.

He urges parents to get their children, especially younger children, vaccinated against the flu. The COVID-19 vaccine is only available to kids 5 and older.

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While much of the U.S., including Florida, is dealing with a surge in coronavirus cases, driven by the omicron variant’s rapid spread, flu is also on the rise.

About 400,000 COVID-19 cases were reported in Florida from Dec. 30 to Jan. 5, including 67,000 for Wednesday, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Coronavirus-related hospitalizations have also more than doubled over the past week, the Florida Hospital Association said. There were 8,062 hospitalizations confirmed in the state Thursday compared to 4,001 one week earlier.

At the same time, influenza activity is low in Florida, but increasing for the first time since March 2020, the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Florida Department of Health’s latest “Flu Review” for Dec. 26 to Jan. 1. Most of the state saw mild flu activity that week, while DeSoto, Polk, Putnam and Suwanee counties saw moderate activity.

Experts say that people could be more susceptible to the flu this year as they move away from strict COVID-19 protocols, including wearing face masks and social distancing, that also protected them from other viruses last year.

"It's interesting that after you have a year with a very, very low or not at all influenza activity, the next year — because people were less exposed — it makes them more vulnerable," Nadav Davidovitch, director of the School of Public Health at Ben-Gurion University in Israel.

Cases of a double flu and COVID-19 diagnosis have been reported in the U.S., Israel, Brazil, the Philippines and Hungary so far, the Washington Post reported.

The term “flurona” has been used in global media reports recently after two young pregnant Israeli woman tested positive for both viruses at the end of December.

A “flurona” case was detected at a COVID-19 testing site in Los Angeles County, California, on Wednesday. Before that, a Houston teenager was also sick with both the flu and coronavirus on Christmas Day.

A combo of the flu and COVID-19 “could be catastrophic to your immune system,” Dr. Adrian Burrowes, a family medicine physician and assistant professor of family medicine at the University of Central Florida, told CNN.

Since the start of the pandemic, he has been concerned about what will happen during flu season.

"I'm definitely more concerned this year than I was a year ago," Burrowes said. "And the reason why is because now we have pretty significant COVID fatigue amongst the American population."

The Florida Department of Health encourages residents get vaccinated against both viruses.

“Annual vaccination is the best way to protect yourself and your loved ones from influenza and its potentially severe complications. Now is the perfect time to get vaccinated,” FDOH said, adding that the flu vaccine may be given at the same time as the COVID-19 vaccine.