Reality check: What is ‘flurona’ and can you tell if you have it?

The term is used to describe a co-infection when a person catches the influenza virus and the coronavirus simultaneously.

For anyone experiencing flu-like symptoms, the general advice from public health officials is to either stay home or get tested for COVID-19.

But what if you have the flu and COVID-19 — both at the same? Then, it’s definitely ‘flurona’.

The catchy term coined during the COVID-19 pandemic is used to describe a co-infection when a person catches the influenza virus and the coronavirus simultaneously.

It’s not a new phenomenon or uncommon to be infected with the two viruses. But with COVID-19 infections surging in Canada while the country is still in the midst of the annual flu season, cases of ‘flurona’ are only inevitable and bound to be reported, experts say.

“As we’re seeing more flu this year because social distancing is not as strict in the past and we’re in the middle of the classic flu season, and because we’re in a huge surge of COVID-19, because of the Omicron variant, it’s not surprising we’re going to see people that are unfortunately infected with both of these illnesses at the same time,” Dr. Michael Curry, an emergency physician and clinical associate professor at the University of British Columbia, said.

Because the flu and the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19, have several overlapping symptoms, it is difficult for a person to self-diagnose ‘flurona’ without getting a test, Curry said.

“We really discover the existence of flurona in the lab,” he said.

“A person who is sick probably won’t be able to tell the difference.”