Treating a Cold or Flu When You Have COVID-19 – Vision Monday

Respiratory viruses sometimes hit you in pairs, meaning you can catch a cold or the flu along with COVID-19. Its called coinfection, but as far as scientists can tell right now, it doesnt happen very often. One review found that less than 1% of people with COVID-19 have also caught the flu at the same time.

In 2020, Israeli scientists dubbed a flu-COVID coinfection as flurona. Its important to note that while the names are combined, the viruses are not. Theyre still two distinct viruses that you can catch at the same time.

Theres evidence that when youre infected with a virus, it can sometimes be harder to get a second viral infection on top of that, says Luci Leykum, MD, chief clinical officer at Harbor Health in Austin, Texas.

There are several reasons why this seems to be the case. Your cells may be a poorer environment for a second virus to take hold. Or proteins on the surface of the cell are expressed a little differently right after an infection. But we dont know yet whether this effect, called viral interference, works in the same way with the viruses that cause COVID-19 and the flu. Scientists are still doing research to find out.

There was a major drop in cold and flu illnesses at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. But by spring 2021, flu and other virus activity began to rebound. This means a higher chance of coinfection. If you do get sick, here are some expert tips on how to get well.

Head over to WebMD to read the full story.

Excerpt from:

Treating a Cold or Flu When You Have COVID-19 - Vision Monday