CONSIDERING that no case of the influenza virus was officially confirmed last year, experts still do not know for sure what a possible “collision” of flu and kovid could bring us.
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Professor Tomislav Preveden, an infectologist at the Clinical Center of Vojvodina and president of the Association of Infectious Diseases of Serbia, told “Novosti” that we will see this during this fall and winter:
– We have known the flu for more than 100 years, and the crown for less than two, so these two diseases had very few opportunities to “collide” in the same person, which does not mean that it is not possible. Because, although there is an opinion that the existence of one virus in a cell interferes with the action of another and thus prevents the development of another viral disease, it is still believed that the same person can get flu and coronary viral infection at the same time.
Simultaneous infection with the flu and corona virus, according to Professor Preveden, would lead to a more severe clinical picture.
– In that case, complications would be more frequent, and the consequences more serious. Therefore, when we have effective vaccines against influenza and against the corona, the advice is to vaccinate as many people as possible against both infections, because the vaccine against kovid does not protect against the flu and vice versa.
In case the flu and kovid “occur” separately, the difficulties alone will not be enough for the doctors to conclude which infection it is.
– In general, the symptoms of the flu and the symptoms of the coronavirus are very similar and their precise diagnosis can only be made on the basis of testing – says Professor Preveden. – The blood picture is not enough for an accurate diagnosis, because it does not differ significantly and is similar to most viral diseases.
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However, Professor Preveden says that the symptoms typical of kovid are loss of sense of taste and smell, and they almost never occur with the flu:
– Both infections cause fever, headache and muscle aches. Weakness and weakness are more pronounced with the flu, and cough is common with both infections. Shortness of breath and difficulty breathing are more common in corona, because pneumonia is very common in this infection. In coronary viral infections, it is typical that an elevated D-dimer in the blood often occurs, which we do not see with the flu, and more often we see a finding on an X-ray of the lungs that indicates viral pneumonia, which does not have to be heard through headphones.
CRITICAL DECEMBER AND JANUARY
In PREVIOUS decades, epidemiological services have in most cases detected the appearance of the flu virus in December. The largest number of patients with this infection usually occurs during the second half of January.
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