COVID-19 and flu make for a dangerous combo, study finds

Having COVID-19 and influenza at the same time puts hospitalized adults at much greater risk of critical illness and death compared to having COVID-19 without the flu, researchers reported on The Lancet.

Patients with SARS-CoV-2/influenza coinfections were more than four times as likely to require machines to help them breath and 2.4 times as likely to die compared to patients who only had COVID-19, according to a study of nearly 7,000 hospitalized patients with COVID-19, including 227 who also had the flu.

Dr. Kenneth Baillie of the University of Edinburgh, who led the study, said the combination of the two viruses is particularly dangerous. “We expect that COVID-19 will circulate with flu, increasing the chance of co-infections. That is why we should change our testing strategy for COVID-19 patients in hospital and test for flu much more widely,” Baillie said in a statement.

“The vaccines that protect against COVID-19 and flu are different,” added Dr. Peter Openshaw of Imperial College London, “and people need both.”

via Reuters