Amid the fear of the Omicron variant, Israel recorded the first case of 'florona' disease, according to a report by Arab news.
"#Israel records first case of #florona disease, a double infection of #COVID19 and influenza," Arab News tweeted on Friday.
A pregnant woman, who was admitted to a medical facility for giving birth, was detected with florona, another report by Hindustan Times said.
However, the young woman was not vaccinated, the report added, quoting Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth.
WHAT IS FLORONA?
According to a report by news agency ANI, ‘florona’ disease is a double infection of Covid-19 and influenza.
However, it is not a new variant. Israeli doctors are studying ‘florona’ as a spike has been witnessed in influenza cases recently.
Florona is indicative of a severe lapse in the immunity system because two viruses are infecting the human body simultaneously.
PEOPLE MUST NOT PANIC
People must not panic as it is not a new variant.
Earlier, there were unconfirmed reports about the detection of Delmicron, which, again, is not a new variant. In Europe and the US, there have been cases where SARS-CoV-2 variants Delta and Omicron attack at the same time.
SARS-CoV-2 VARIANTS OF CONCERN
So far, the World Health Organization (WHO) has named Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, and Omicron as variants of concern of SARS-CoV-2.
Israel has already begun administering fourth vaccine shots against Covid-19 on Friday to individuals with a compromised immune system.
The news of Florona comes at a time when the world is battling a new surge of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic driven by the new variant Omicron, which was first detected in South Africa in November 2021.
The fast-transmissible variant has already spread to most of the countries and has overtaken the previous variant Delta in the US and UK.
Florona, however, is not a new variant, to dispel misgivings, as it is believed to be the occurrence of flu and corona at the same time. Israeli doctors said Florona is being studied as Isreal has seen a surge in influenza cases in the last few weeks.
Dr Nahla Abdel Wahab, a doctor at Cairo University Hospital, told Israeli media that Florona may indicate a major breakdown of the immunity system as two viruses are entering the human body at the same time.
Experts have also flagged Delmicron, a combination of Delta and Omicron variants, which might have caused the surge in the US and Europe.
Delmicron, too, is not a new variant but the attack of Delta and Omicron strains together. Commenting on Delmicron, Moderna's chief medical officer Dr Paul Burton has said it was possible that both the strains can swap genes and trigger a more dangerous variant.
"There's certainly data, there have been some papers published again from South Africa earlier from the pandemic when people - and certainly immunocompromised people - can harbour both viruses," Burton was quoted as saying by the Daily Mail.
