Comparison of respiratory pathogens in children with community-acquired pneumonia before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic (preprint)

Background Multifaceted non-pharmaceutical interventions during the COVID-19 pandemic have not only reduced the transmission of SARS-CoV2, but have had an effect on the prevalence of other pathogens. This retrospective study aimed to compare and analyze the changes of respiratory pathogens in hospitalized children with community-acquired pneumonia.Methods From January 2019 to December 2020, children with community-acquired pneumonia were selected from the Department of Respiratory Medicine, Shanghai Children's Medical Center. On the first day of hospitalization, sputum, throat swabs, venous blood samples from them were collected for detection of pathogens.Results A total of 2596 children with community-acquired pneumonia were enrolled, including 1871 patients in 2019 and 725 in 2020. The detection rate in 2020 was lower than in 2019, whether single or multiple pathogens. Compared with 2019, the detection rate of virus, especially parainfluenza virus, influenza virus and respiratory syncytial virus, all decreased in 2020. On the contrary, the prevalence of human rhinovirus was much higher than that in 2019. In addition, the positivity rate for bacteria did not change much over the two years, which seemed to be less affected by COVID-19. And Mycoplasma pneumoniae which broke out in 2019 has been in low prevalence since March 2020 even following the reopening of school.Conclusions Strict public health interventions for COVID-19 in China have effectively suppressed the spread of not only SARS-CoV2 but parainfluenza virus, influenza virus and Mycoplasma pneumonia as well. However, it had a much more limited effect on bacteria and rhinovirus. Therefore, more epidemiological surveillance of respiratory pathogens will help improve early preventive measures.

Effect Analysis of Different Environmental Disinfection Methods on Reducing Contamination of Surfaces of Omicron Ba.2.2 Variant of Sars-Cov-2 in the Fever Clinic in The Out- Broken of Shanghai (preprint)

To investigate the effect of different environmental disinfection methods on reducing contamination of surfaces (CSS) of omicron BA.2.2 of Sars-Cov-2 in the fever clinic between March 20 to May 30, 2022 and analyze influence and related factors of the CSS. This study includes survey data from 389 positive patients (SPP) and 204 CSS in the fever clinic including the CSS type, the disinfection method; the duration time in the clinic, CT value, name, age, weight, mask type and gender of the SPP. Associations between study variables and specified outcomes were explored using uni-variate regression analyses. Among the 389 SPP, 22 SPP (CRP, 5.66%) caused CSS in the separate isolation room. 219 SPP (56.30%) were male. The mean age of SPP was 4.34±3.92 years old and the mean CT value was 12.44±5.11. In total, sampling times with exposure history were 9952, including 204 (2.05%) of CSS. Among the CSS, the positive rate of flat surface is the highest in either public area (2.52%) or separate isolation room (4.75%). Disinfection methods of Ultraviolet radiation + Chemical can significantly reduce the CSS in either public area (0% vs 4.56%) or separate isolation room (0.76% vs 2.64%) compared with the chemical alone (P＜0.05). Compared with ordinary SPP, the CRP is older (6.04y vs 4.23y) and the male proportion is higher (72.73% vs 55.31%). In particular, it is found that SPP contaminated their surroundings and therefore imposed risks for other people. Environment disinfection should be emphasized in Ultraviolet radiation + Chemical. The findings may be useful to guide infection control practice to omicron BA.2.2 of Sars-Cov-2.