Experts assessed the likelihood of tweendemia in Europe due to the return of influenza

In Europe, a twindemic, or a double epidemic, of CORONAVIRUS and influenza is possible, Vitaly Zverev, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, HEAD of the Department of Microbiology, Virology, and Immunology at Sechenov University, told RBC. Earlier, the European Union warned about the risk of twindemia.

“An influenza epidemic in Europe is, of course, possible. There was almost no flu last year, this is due to the fact that the borders were closed, people moved around the world less. Now the borders are opening, and there is more freedom of movement,” he said.

At the same time, the flu has not gone away, it will always be in the human population, Zverev continued. “Nothing can be done about it, you will always have to fight the flu. And now the emergence of influenza in parallel with the coronavirus infection is possible,” he said.

In this regard, it is important that there are differential test systems to distinguish influenza from other respiratory infections, “which for some reason are forgotten,” Zverev continued. “These are adenoviruses, respiratory syncytial virus, and rhinoviruses. There are quite a lot of viruses that cause the so-called SARS,” he explained.