key: cord-0789979-oy86kmm3
authors: d'Ettorre, Gabriele; Ceccarelli, Giancarlo; Pinacchio, Claudia; Ciccozzi, Massimo; d'Ettorre, Gabriella
title: Preventing influenza and influenza like illness during Covid-19 pandemic: A call for action
date: 2020-08-12
journal: Early Hum Dev
DOI: 10.1016/j.earlhumdev.2020.105156
sha: 624ab631dbcd8159ec4ad7c50d01431b9d7ea0d6
doc_id: 789979
cord_uid: oy86kmm3

nan

Dear Editor, we read with interest the article by Grech et al. [1] on the influenza vaccination in the COVID-19 era.

The current COVID-19 pandemic poses the need to take preventive evidence -based actions by policy makers with the aim of both curbing the spread of the infection and protecting people susceptible to a severe disease. In our recent article [2] we highlighted that patients with history of recent influenza or influenza like illnesses (ILI) has been found to incur greater risk and severity of COVID-19; we hypotesized that previous ILI or influenza could therefore represent a predisposing factor for subsequent COVID-19 infection. Findings of our study showed that 63.6% of 190 COVID-19 patients reported in their clinical history a recent ILI (1 -3 weeks prior to the appearance of COVID-19 related symptoms); previous flu vaccination was reported in only 26.3% of patients. To date, concerns is arising in the northern hemisphere in view of the coming soon of fall and winter seasons which are notoriously overburdened by high rates of influenza and ILIs [3] . Given these findings, we suggest policy-makers actions aimed at : 1) providing vaccinations against influenza and pneumonia: vaccination against influenza should be provided both to minimize the individual susceptibility to Covid-19 [3] and to avoid superimposed infection from influenza viruses in patients suffering from Covid-19 [4] ; moreover, as influenza and ILIs can disguise the diagnosis of COVID-19 (since they may have a similar symptomatology) flu vaccination may help disclosure COVID-19 in people suffering from SARS-CoV-2 infection. The CDC recommends that all people 6 months and older get a

Influenza vaccination in the COVID-19 era

Is previous influenza-like illness a potential trojan horse for COVID-19? Critical care

Using influenza surveillance networks to estimate statespecific prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in the United States

Potential Effects of Coronaviruses on the Cardiovascular System: A Review

Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC)

Identifying airborne transmission as the dominant route for the spread of COVID-19

Preparing for seasonal influenza