Search icon

Coronavirus

02nd Jan 2022

Israel reports first case of rare ‘flurona’ infection

George McKay

Reports suggest the patient’s symptoms were mild

Israel has reported the first known case of what has been dubbed as ‘flurona’, a rare mixture of both Covid-19 and influenza.

Local reports say the patient was a pregnant woman, who was in hospital, reports Hamodia.

“She was diagnosed with the flu and coronavirus as soon as she arrived. Both tests came back positive, even after we checked again,” said Arnon Vizhnitser, director of the gynaecology department of Beilinson Hospital.

The Israeli health ministry said it was studying to find out if the two simultaneous infections  could cause more serious illness.

It is expected the woman will be discharged on Thursday.

Health officials in Israel believe there are other patients who have also caught both bugs, but who have not been diagnosed.

Elsewhere, a schoolteacher from Michigan self-isolated for five hours during a flight from Chicago after she tested positive for covid mid-flight.

Marisa Fotieo was flying to Iceland‘s capital Reykjavik when she started to get a sore throat and sensibly took out one of her spare rapid covid tests that she had brought along with her.

Turns out, it was a good job she did as she told the Today Show that “within what felt like two seconds there were two lines”.

Back in the UK, Boris Johnson confirmed that ninety percent of Covid patients in intensive care units have not had the booster jab.

“I’m sorry to say this but the overwhelming majority of people who are currently ending up in intensive care in our hospitals are people who are not boosted,” the Prime Minister said during a visit to a vaccination centre in Milton Keynes last week.

Related links

Anti-vaxxers storm Covid testing centre and trash equipment in ‘disgraceful’ protest

Maskless London commuters fined over £30k in just one day

People with Covid should be able to ‘go about their normal lives’ like with cold, says doctor