Low Prevalence Of SARS-COV-2 And Influenza Virus Coinfection During COVID-19 Disease Pandemic, In Iran

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), originated more likely from Wuhan, China and spread across the world. According to WHO reports, the virus is responsible for the death of almost seven million people around the world until now. Considering the same clinical manifestations of SARS-CoV-2 and influenza virus, simultaneous infection of these two viruses may affect the treatment process of the patient. Thus, we investigated coinfection of SARS-CoV-2, influenza A (IAV) and B (IBV) in patients with respiratory syndrome from June to August 2021. Nasopharyngeal samples were obtained from 84 COVID-19 patients and were tested for detection of SARS-CoV-2, IAV and IBV by using Reverse Transcriptase Real-time Polymerase Chain Reaction. Out of 84 patients, we found 46 and three COVID-19 and influenza positive cases, respectively. Coinfection was only found in two cases. Both cases were female and aged above 60 years. Findings of the currents study represent low prevalence of the influenza virus infection in the 2021 influenza season as well as low coinfection rates with SARS-CoV-2. This low prevalence may be due to the preventive measurements against the COVID-19.