Peru’s Health Ministry on Thursday reported the country’s first fatal case of “flurona,” a simultaneous infection of flu and COVID-19, involving an 87-year-old patient with comorbidities who was not vaccinated against the coronavirus.
The deceased was one of three cases of flurona detected in northern Peru’s Amazonas region, according to Cesar Munayco, a researcher at the ministry’s National Center for Epidemiology, Prevention and Control of Diseases.
The other two cases included a minor and a 40-year-old person who was fully vaccinated against COVID-19, said Munayco.
Those infected presented symptoms such as cough, sore throat and general malaise, Munayco said, urging the public to get vaccinated against COVID-19 and influenza because that “reduces the risk of dying.”
“It is important to take this into account, because we currently have a major outbreak of H3N2 influenza in the country’s jungle, such as [the regions of] Loreto, San Martin, Amazonas and Ucayali,” Munayco warned.
Peru announced its third wave of COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, accelerated by the arrival in December of the Omicron variant, which has already led to 309 confirmed cases in this South American nation. (Xinhua) -ag
