Twindemic and tripledemic (or tridemic) are terms used during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, referring to the possibility of a severe flu season happening alongside an increase in cases of

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

during the fall and winter of 2020 and 2021, as well as respiratory syncytial virus in the winter of 2022. A consequence of a twindemic may be a mixture of two different infections in the same person at the same time. The term ''twindemic'' is a

portmanteau In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.

of "

twin Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.MedicineNet > Definition of Twin Last Editorial Review: 19 June 2000 Twins can be either ''monozygotic'' ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two ...

" and " pandemic". __TOC__

History

The term was used by an August 2020 article from ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' written by Jan Hoffman. In the article, Hoffman credited Dr. L.J. Tan of the Immunization Action Coalition as an "early promoter" of the possibility of a twindemic. After the publication of ''The Times''' article, several media outlets began to report on the possibility of a twindemic. Health experts responded to the threat of a possible twindemic by encouraging more people to get the flu vaccine. A twindemic did not occur during the flu season in late 2020 due to cases of the seasonal flu being at historic lows in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and globally. These low amount of flu cases were attributed to measures put in place to prevent COVID-19 from spreading, including face masks, social distancing, and

hand washing Hand washing (or handwashing), also known as hand hygiene, is the act of cleaning one's hands with soap, soap or handwash and water to remove viruses, bacteria, microorganisms, dirt, grease, and other harmful or unwanted substances stuck to th ...

. Health experts renewed concerns of a possible twindemic happening during the fall and winter of 2021 due to loosening restrictions. In April 2022, Apoorva Mandavilli of ''

'' speculated that a twindemic has not occurred because "exposure to one respiratory virus may put the body's immune defenses on high alert, barring other intruders from gaining entry into the airways. This biological phenomenon, called viral interference, may cap the amount of respiratory virus circulating in a region at any given time." In the

, flu cases, hospitalizations and deaths were up from the previous flu season, but were still lower than the pre-pandemic average.

"Flurona"

In January 2022,

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

reported, for the first time, a mixture of COVID-19 and influenza infections, colloquially known as "flurona". In

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

, four cases of the double infection have been identified, including a 16-year-old male from

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

. In Fortaleza of

Ceará Ceará (, ) is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, northeastern part of the country, on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. It is the List of Brazilian states by population, eighth-largest Brazilian State by ...

state, two children, including a one-year-old child tested positive without complications, and also a 52-year-old man who did not need hospitalization. In

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

, the Secretariat of Health announced that its state had 110 cases in 2021. Flurona infections have also been reported in the United States, the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

and

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

References

{{COVID-19 pandemic 2020 neologisms Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic Influenza COVID-19