The Impact of Influenza in COVID-19 Pandemic

摘要

There are several questions concerning the association between flu season and the COVID-19 pandemic. For instance, does the influenza coinfection affects the clinical course of COVID-19? There are also uncertainties regarding the impact of influenza vaccination on preventing COVID19 infection or whether COVID-19 preventive measures are associated with the reduced burden of the coming flu season (1). Some points are derived from studies performed in China, where influenza was extensively transmitting when the first cases of novel coronavirus were identified, and in the southern hemisphere that still is in the midst of flu season (1). Each year the influenza epidemic imposes significant effects on health systems all around the world, which claims about 12 000 to 61 000 lives each year since 2010 just in the US (2). It has been argued that the total number of deaths and infected cases is a criterion of the degree of genetic drift or shift in the dominant strain of the influenza virus. Besides, somehow, it reflects the efficacy of vaccination. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, health care providers are faced with an increased burden of respiratory problems, somehow due to its expansion in an immunologically naive population. Currently, one of the most important concerns of health authorities is the looming threat of concurrent influenza and COVID-19 epidemics (3).