ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and people's subsequent behavioral changes have decreased the cases of respiratory infection worldwide. However, research on infectious diseases with other transmission modes is insufficient. The aim was to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on non-respiratory infectious diseases: infectious enterocolitis, sexually transmitted diseases such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and syphilis, and tick-borne diseases. METHODS: This retrospective, cohort study used comprehensive surveillance data from the National Institute of Infectious Diseases in Japan from January 1, 2018, to December 31, 2021. The number of cases of infectious diseases before the COVID-19 pandemic (2018-2019) was compared with that during the COVID-19 pandemic (2020-2021). Reduction rates were calculated as the number of disease cases during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, respectively, divided by the mean number of disease cases in 2018 and 2019. RESULTS: The total numbers of cases of infectious enterocolitis, sexually transmitted diseases, and tick-borne diseases during the study period were 2,507,304 cases, 24,972 cases, and 3012 cases, respectively. The number of cases decreased for infectious enterocolitis and sexually transmitted diseases during the COVID-19 pandemic compared with before the COVID-19 pandemic, with an approximately 40-50% decrease in enterocolitis and 30-55% decreases in sexually transmitted diseases. However, cases of tick-borne diseases changed little, with a 0.2% increase in 2020 and a 6% increase in 2021. CONCLUSION: The COVID-19 pandemic had a different impact on the number of cases of infectious diseases depending on their mode of transmission.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Enterocolitis , HIV Infections , Sexually Transmitted Diseases , COVID-19/epidemiology , Cohort Studies , Enterocolitis/epidemiology , HIV Infections/epidemiology , Humans , Japan/epidemiology , Pandemics , Retrospective Studies , Sexually Transmitted Diseases/epidemiologyABSTRACT
Although routine vaccinations in children decreased during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, pneumococcal vaccine coverage in older adults has remained unknown. This study was performed to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on pneumococcal vaccination in Japan. The numbers of 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccines (PPV23) shipped was obtained from an office memorandum released by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare. The results showed that the COVID-19 pandemic increased the need for pneumococcal vaccination, causing shipping restrictions of pneumococcal vaccines. Regular vaccination is still important because there may be a shortage of vaccines during a pandemic.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Pneumococcal Infections , Aged , Child , Humans , Japan/epidemiology , Pandemics/prevention & control , Pneumococcal Infections/epidemiology , Pneumococcal Infections/prevention & control , Pneumococcal Vaccines , SARS-CoV-2 , VaccinationSubject(s)
Asymptomatic Infections/epidemiology , COVID-19/diagnosis , Carrier State , Cross Infection/prevention & control , Mass Screening/methods , Prenatal Care/methods , Preoperative Care/statistics & numerical data , SARS-CoV-2 , Adult , COVID-19 Nucleic Acid Testing , Female , Humans , Japan , Male , Pregnant Women , Retrospective Studies , Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction , TokyoABSTRACT
Long-term care facilities are a recognized high-risk setting for severe outcomes during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak. This study describes a COVID-19 outbreak in a long-term care facility in Japan. The index case was a nurse who wore a surgical mask and used standard precautions. Of the 17 confirmed cases of COVID-19, 14 (14/93, 15.1%) were residents and three (3/69, 4.3%) were healthcare personnel (HCP); no visitors tested positive 0 (0/22, 0.0%). Mask utilization by HCP was not much effective in preventing COVID-19 transmission, even when interaction was not considered as being in close contact.