Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-COV-2) ­and­ influenza­ virus coinfection during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract In covid-19 patients, undetected coinfection may have seriously increased hospitalization, a variety of therapeutic approaches, and mortality; therefore, we examined the proportion of SARS-CoV-2 and influenza virus coinfection among referred cases-patients from November to January 2021 in Hamedan province, Iran. Nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal samples were obtained from 14116 individuals with COVID-19 symptoms (2216 inpatient and 11903 outpatient) and they screened for respiratory pathogens (SARS-CoV-2 and influenza virus) using multiplex real-time PCR panel assay. Case-patients were with a < = 18, 19–60 and 60 < = age, and 53.56% and 46.44% were male and female, respectively. Among them, 2004 (14.19%) were infected with the influenza virus; 2409 (17.11%) were infected with the SARS-CoV-2, and 191 (1.35%) were co-infected with both viruses. Patients aged 19–60 were more likely to be infected with a coinfection. Also, coinfection 96(50.26) was more common in females than males. The positive and negative cases reported for SARS-CoV-2, influenza virus, and coinfection were more observed in Hamedan city. Our result suggests that the circulating influenza virus was during the COVID-19 pandemic during the peak season, but coinfection with SARS-CoV-2 and influenza virus was not very common.