Another one to watch

[K9medic]

This has just popped up on another forum. Isreal is reporting cases of patients who are testing positive for both Covid and Influenza. The only report that I can find is this one from the Express

www.express.co.uk/news/science/1543223/covid-news-latest-flurona-israel-coronavirus-and-flu-pandemic-fears

And it reads, to me, like it's only been found in pregnant women so far.

Now before everyone starts panicking or writing this off as a scaremongering tactic, yes while I can not sight a previous case of someone testing positive to both Covid & Influenza at the same time, I would put a month's wages on it has occurred.

However, let's just remember that at the moment Isreal is reporting 2000 people in hospital with Influenza, a major problem with Avian Flu (5000 Cranes have died and they are culling domesticated flocks).

All this adds up to an interesting Petri dish for possible mutations of three relatively closely related viruses, two of which already have a taste for human

Interesting point. Yes, humans can get both covid and flu at the same time which is why they rolled out both vaccinations so quickly at the same time and offered flue to a wider age group for free. Another interesting point is that covid o variant seems to be out competing the common cold at the moment.

Pregnant woman. Not women.

My understanding is there was/is more than one case of a person with both Covid and Influenza, and as the only consistent testing for both seems to be in maternity wards it is in fact Women.

However, as I'm just getting over Covid myself and looking after 3 boys at varying stages of Covid I'm not particularly bothered about splitting hairs

Splitting hairs / spreading fear........ 6 of one

There has been an avian flu epidemic ripping through Europe at the same time as Covid. I'm not convinced they can cross mutate as they aren't the same disease.

A petri dish indeed. My uncle had Covid in November and was struck by a secondary chest infection just days later. I know this is common with Covid, but makes perfect sense that you could get Covid plus Influenza at the same time too.

yeah we were all scaremongering back in jan 2020 and that worked out just fine....

There is now a student in Los Angeles who has both influenza and covd (again thankfully mild) and a UK case of bird flu (the strain thats decimating the wild birds).

Could these combine? Doubt it, but its not my field so i can not say either way. But anyone of the 3 is not pleasent to catch. And if you have any of them your likely to be at lest self isolating and that puts more strain on the work force.

Bird flu reported in Nottingham.

@BlackeyedSusan

Bird flu reported in Nottingham.

Worrying. Really not sure what to think as to where this could go

The odds are the worst-case scenario is that H5N1 (the current version of Bird Flu going around) does not make the jump into Human to Human transmission. In that case, the major concern is the mass culling of poultry flocks causing a shortage in eggs and bird meat. Yesterday someone posted on an American forum that in Israel eggs are hitting $4 each, though I haven't been able to confirm that.

That would hit us as a family hard as we do eat a lot of eggs and chicken. At the minute I have a fair bit of chicken in the freezer and I'm seriously considering freezing eggs (I tend to wisk them then freeze them in ice cube trays). I still have a few jars of pickled eggs, luckily only me and the youngest like them.

But, and it's an unlikely event but still worth considering, H5N1 does make the jump to humans we have all learned valuable skills in the last two years about how to protect our selves from viruses.

We also eat a lot of chicken and eggs. We have our own hens so luckily have a decent supply of eggs (they are still laying at the moment although not as much as in warmer months)

I just hope it doesn't end up another mass cull a la 2001 Foot and Mouth outbreak

I didn’t know you would wisk and then freeze eggs. Are they ok to use still for things like omelette and pancakes? My daughter had covid quite bad in November (unvaccinated) and then came down with tonsillitis, which she does quite often if under the weather, this lead to her being I’ll and missing work for 3 weeks. Not good.

I tend to use frozen eggs for scrambled eggs and baking. But I would miss poached and fried eggs

reliably informed (by other posters on here sometime around Brexit/Jan 2020) that frozen eggs are good for baking, pancakes and omlettes and presumably scrambled eggs.

dd is allergic to eggs so only ds and I eat them then decontaminate afterwards.

I do have chicken in the freezer as ds likes it. Just used up last years emergency Christmas chicken. (well in December to make way for Christmas stuff. )

I've been to Sainsbury's today to grab a couple of kilos of chicken. Shelves were I'd say half full. Also seems to be an issue with hit dogs. Had to go to Aldi to get the hot dogs, their own Pasta Sauce and DD favourite crisps. Fuelled up the car and ordered a pack of lateral flow tests. Feeling reasonably happy that I've got a bit extra on board in case of a bumpy month

Oh, meant to add that I've always loved M&S tinned chicken breast. There was none on the shelf last week. Not even a sticker for it any more. Sainsbury's used to do their own brand, but stopped last year. They started stocking Tulip brand and that's gone missing too. I have a few in the pantry. Hope it comes back as it's excellent in sandwiches and wraps

Bird flu has made it to our local park too. Notices are up at the entrances. This has not stopped small children chasing birds, throwing bread to them and picking the bread up again. The ground is wall to wall bird shit as there are a lot of geese, seagulls, pigeons and swans. If you wall around the pond with a bag you get followed by eager geese hoping for a feed. If someone does give out bread, they disappear in a cloud of gulls and pigeons and a sea of geese.