Precautions against COVID-19 reduce respiratory virus infections among children in Southwest China.
Medicine (Baltimore)
; 101(37): e30604, 2022 Sep 16.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-2087893
ABSTRACT
Acute respiratory tract infections pose a serious threat to the health of children worldwide, with viral infections representing a major etiology of this type of disease. Protective measures such as mask-wearing, social distancing, and hand hygiene can be effective in curbing the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. These precautions may also have an impact on the spread of other respiratory viruses. In this study, we retrospectively compared the respiratory virus infections of children in Southwest China before and after the outbreak of COVID-19. Nasopharyngeal swabs were collected from 1578 patients under 14 years old with acute respiratory tract infection symptoms before and after COVID-19 pandemic. Nine common respiratory viruses including human bocavirus, human rhinoviruses, human coronaviruses, human adenoviruses, human metapneumovirus, respiratory syncytial virus, influenza A virus, influenza B virus, and parainfluenza virus were measured by advanced fragment analysis. The respiratory virus infection rates among children of all ages and genders in Southwest China under the precautions against COVID-19 pandemic were significantly lower than that of the same period before the pandemic. Our findings indicate that public health measures implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic, including strict mask-wearing, social distancing, and hand hygiene, may be effective in preventing the transmission of other respiratory viruses in children, thereby controlling the spread of infections.
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Respiratory Tract Infections
/
Virus Diseases
/
Respiratory Syncytial Virus, Human
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Etiology study
/
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
Limits:
Adolescent
/
Child
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
Language:
English
Journal:
Medicine (Baltimore)
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
MD.0000000000030604
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