Background: previous worldwide reports indicated a substantial short-term reduction in various respiratory infections during the early phase of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.
Aims: exploring the long-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on respiratory pathogens.
Methods: retrospective analysis of bacterial and viral positivity rate in respiratory samples, between 1 January 2017-30 June 2022 in a tertiary hospital in Jerusalem, Israel.
Results: A decline in overall respiratory tests and positivity rate was observed in the first months of the pandemic. Respiratory isolations of Hemophilus influenza and Streptococcus pneumoniae were insignificantly affected and returned to their monthly average by November 2020, despite a parallel surge in COVID-19 activity, while Mycoplasma pneumoniae was almost eliminated from the respiratory pathogens scene. Each viral pathogen acted differently, with adenovirus affected only for few months. Human-metapneumovirus and respiratory-syncytial-virus had reduced activity for approximately a year, and influenza A virus resurged in November 2021 with the elimination of Influenza-B.
Conclusions: After an immediate decline in non-SARS-CoV-2 respiratory infections, each pathogen has a different pattern during a 2-year follow-up. These patterns might be influenced by intrinsic factors of each pathogen and different risk reduction behaviors of the population. Since some of these measures will remain in the following years, we cannot predict the timing of return to pre-COVID-19 normalcy.
Keywords: SARS-CoV-2; bacterial; respiratory pathogens; viral.