The use of the terms “Florona” and “Deltacrone” has spread in recent days, but what do they mean exactly, and are they considered scientifically accurate terms?
The American WKYC channel hosted doctors from Ohio hospitals to answer this question andShed more light on these concepts.
Flu and covid at the same time
Dr. Daniel Rhodes, chair of the department of microbiology at Cleveland Clinic, said “Florona” is a term intended to describe a patient’s condition when He gets the flu and covid-19 at the same timeHe explained that no cases of “Florona” appeared significantly, “because Covid basically overshadowed the flu throughout the past winter, so there was no flu season last winter. But in the current period some cases of flu appeared, along with the presence of cases of Covid-19 spreading So there is a possibility of co-infection with both influenza and Covid, which sometimes happens.”
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Dr. Rhodes noted that although it is possible to have both influenza and Covid at the same time, they do not fuse together to form a new virus or strain, noting that “they are just two infections at the same time.”
Dr. Amy Edwards, a pediatric infectious disease specialist in Ohio, was surprised that the term “florona” has gained so much traction given that she often sees patients with more than one infection at the same time.
Dr Edwards said: “Co-infections are very common, and it’s a condition that doctors have been dealing with since antiquity. For example, in pediatrics, we often see children with a respiratory viral infection combined with a rhinovirus infection.”
She said that the diagnosis clinically depends on the condition of each patient individually, to determine whether there is any type of concomitant infection or not, explaining that in most cases, the concomitant infection is likely to go unnoticed.
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The term “deltacron”
The term “deltacron” refers to Infection with a combination of delta and omicron variablesDr. David Margolius, director of general internal medicine at MetroHealth Hospital, said the idea that the two variables would be combined into an entirely new variant was not correct.
“It is possible for a person to have a delta variant and an omicron variant, but the two viruses do not combine to form a kind of new virus mutation,” Dr. Margolius said.
Do not worry
“People should be reassured that it is really common for people to contract two respiratory viruses at the same time, and that should not add any additional concern,” he added.
For his part, Dr. Rhodes said that there are questions that still need to be answered about what exactly “Deltakron” is, stressing that the case is still being researched and studied.
He believes that there is “a little doubt about what it is,” suggesting that “a hybrid or a fusion of two different types of SARS-CoV-2, namely Delta and Omicron, to somehow form a new strain may be the result of a mere technical error, so to speak.” “.
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There is no new virus
Dr Rhodes explained, “For example, if someone had a concomitant infection involving both delta and omicron variants, perhaps if that sample was sequenced, both would appear alone, but it might be misinterpreted as a new genome whereas In fact, it’s just two species, each with separate genetic sequences.”
Dr. Margolius commented that because of the current testing and analysis method, it is not even known whether the patient has both variables, as he is “in the care stage.” [وتقديم العلاج بالمستشفى]Variables are not tested, because testing for variants is done in a private laboratory, but in hospitals what is tested is only whether the swab is positive or negative for coronavirus, or for influenza if a swab for influenza is also done.
Social media
In conclusion, the opinions of the three doctors agreed that it is not possible to extract information only from social media, and that if there is any controversy or concern, health care centers can be contacted to clarify the matter.
Dr. Edwards advised that all developments can be found from reliable websites and official accounts of the World Health Organization, regional bodies and government agencies in each country.