London. Adults who have been hospitalized simultaneously with COVID-19 and the flu have a much higher risk of serious illness and death than patients who have just contracted COVID-19 or another virus . This information has been given in new research.

The study, published in The Lancet journal, indicated that patients with a co-infection with SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19 and the influenza virus, were four times more likely to need ventilation support and more likely to die. 2.4 times more. If only they had covid.

“We found that the combination of the COVID and flu viruses is particularly dangerous. This will be important as many countries are reducing the use of social distancing and containment measures,” said researcher Kenneth Bailey from the University of Edinburgh.

Bailey said, “We expect that COVID will be transmitted with the flu, increasing the likelihood of co-infection. So we should change our testing strategy for COVID patients in the hospital and test for the flu more widely. Needed.”

Researchers say the findings show the need for more flu testing of COVID patients in the hospital and highlight the importance of full immunization against both COVID and the flu.

For the study, the team included more than 305,000 patients hospitalized with COVID in the UK between February 6, 2020 and December 8, 2021.

Test results for respiratory viral co-infection were recorded for 6,965 patients with COVID. Of these, at least 227 also had influenza virus and experienced significantly more severe consequences.

–IANS

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