Are twindemics occurring?

Emi Takashita; Shinji Watanabe; Hideki Hasegawa; Yoshihiro Kawaoka

doi:10.1111/irv.13090

Are twindemics occurring?

Influenza Other Respir Viruses. 2023 Jan;17(1):e13090. doi: 10.1111/irv.13090. Epub 2022 Dec 25.

Authors

Emi Takashita¹, Shinji Watanabe¹, Hideki Hasegawa¹, Yoshihiro Kawaoka^{2

3

4}

Affiliations

¹ Research Center for Influenza and Respiratory Viruses, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Tokyo, Japan.
² Division of Virology, Institute of Medical Science, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
³ Research Center for Global Viral Diseases, National Center for Global Health and Medicine Research Institute, Tokyo, Japan.
⁴ Influenza Research Institute, Department of Pathobiological Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA.

Abstract

The emergence and spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which causes coronavirus disease (COVID-19), prompted worldwide COVID-19 surveillance. To investigate the impact of COVID-19 on influenza activity, we used global surveillance data collected since 2019 to compare the number of cases positive for COVID-19 and for influenza across 22 representative countries (Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, The Netherlands, The Philippines, Poland, The Republic of Korea, South Africa, Spain, Thailand, The United Kingdom, The United States, and Vietnam). Our results demonstrate alternating prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 and influenza virus.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; influenza; viral interference.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

COVID-19* / epidemiology
France
Humans
Influenza, Human* / epidemiology
SARS-CoV-2
Spain
United States