SARS-CoV-2 and Influenza Co-Infection: Fair Competition or Sinister Combination?

作者：Narasaraju Teluguakula, Vincent T. K. Chow, Mirazkar Dasharatharao Pandareesh, Dasegowda Venkatesha, Vidyasagar Kurrapotula, Shivaramu Maragowdanahalli Gopegowda, Marko Z. Radic · 发表于：Viruses · 年份：2024 · DOI：10.3390/v16050793 · 被引用次数：11 · 研究领域：Respiratory viral infections research、COVID-19 Clinical Research Studies、Influenza Virus Research Studies

The COVID-19 pandemic remains a serious public health problem globally. During winter influenza seasons, more aggressive SARS-CoV-2 infections and fatalities have been documented, indicating that influenza co-infections may significantly impact the disease outcome of COVID-19. Both influenza and SARS-CoV-2 viruses share many similarities in their transmission and their cellular tropism for replication in the human respiratory tract. However, the complex intricacies and multi-faceted dynamics of how the two pathogens interact to ensure their survival in the same lung microenvironment are still unclear. In addition, clinical studies on influenza co-infections in COVID-19 patients do not provide conclusive evidence of how influenza co-infection mechanistically modifies disease outcomes of COVID-19. This review discusses various viral as well as host factors that potentially influence the survival or synergism of these two respiratory pathogens in the infected lung microenvironment.