Broad Impacts of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic on Acute Respiratory Infections in China: An Observational Study.
Clin Infect Dis
; 75(1): e1054-e1062, 2022 Aug 24.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1758700
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
To combat the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) were implemented worldwide, which impacted a broad spectrum of acute respiratory infections (ARIs).METHODS:
Etiologically diagnostic data from 142â 559 cases with ARIs, who were tested for 8 viral pathogens (influenza virus [IFV], respiratory syncytial virus [RSV], human parainfluenza virus [HPIV], human adenovirus [HAdV], human metapneumovirus [HMPV], human coronavirus [HCoV], human bocavirus [HBoV], and human rhinovirus [HRV]) between 2012 and 2021, were analyzed to assess the changes in respiratory infections in China during the first COVID-19 pandemic year compared with pre-pandemic years.RESULTS:
Test-positive rates of all respiratory viruses decreased during 2020, compared to the average levels during 2012-2019, with changes ranging from -17.2% for RSV to -87.6% for IFV. Sharp decreases mostly occurred between February and August when massive NPIs remained active, although HRV rebounded to the historical level during the summer. While IFV and HMPV were consistently suppressed year-round, RSV, HPIV, HCoV, HRV, and HBoV resurged and went beyond historical levels during September 2020-January 2021, after NPIs were largely relaxed and schools reopened. Resurgence was more prominent among children <18 years and in northern China. These observations remain valid after accounting for seasonality and long-term trend of each virus.CONCLUSIONS:
Activities of respiratory viral infections were reduced substantially in the early phases of the COVID-19 pandemic, and massive NPIs were likely the main driver. Lifting of NPIs can lead to resurgence of viral infections, particularly in children.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Orthomyxoviridae
/
Respiratory Tract Infections
/
Viruses
/
Virus Diseases
/
Respiratory Syncytial Virus, Human
/
Metapneumovirus
/
Human bocavirus
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Etiology study
/
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Limits:
Child
/
Humans
Language:
English
Journal:
Clin Infect Dis
Journal subject:
Communicable Diseases
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Cid
Similar
MEDLINE
...
LILACS
LIS