Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the prevalence of respiratory viral pathogens in patients with acute respiratory infection in Shanghai, China

Lifeng Pan; Yang Yuan; Qiqi Cui; Xuechun Zhang; Yujia Huo; Qing Liu; Wenwei Zou; Bing Zhao; Lipeng Hao

doi:10.3389/fpubh.2024.1230139

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the prevalence of respiratory viral pathogens in patients with acute respiratory infection in Shanghai, China

Front Public Health. 2024 Feb 7:12:1230139. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1230139. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Lifeng Pan^#^{1

2}, Yang Yuan^#¹, Qiqi Cui^{1

2}, Xuechun Zhang¹, Yujia Huo¹, Qing Liu¹, Wenwei Zou¹, Bing Zhao^{1

2}, Lipeng Hao^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Shanghai Pudong New Area Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Shanghai, China.
² Research Base of Key Laboratory of Surveillance and Early-warning on Infectious Disease in China CDC, Shanghai, China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the impact of nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) taken to combat COVID-19 on the prevalence of respiratory viruses (RVs) of acute respiratory infections (ARIs) in Shanghai.

Methods: Samples from ARI patients were collected and screened for 17 respiratory viral pathogens using TagMan low density microfluidic chip technology in Shanghai from January 2019 to December 2020. Pathogen data were analyzed to assess changes in acute respiratory infections between 2019 and 2020.

Results: A total of 2,744 patients were enrolled, including 1,710 and 1,034 in 2019 and 2020, respectively. The total detection rate of RVs decreased by 149.74% in 2020. However, detection rates for human respiratory syncytial virus B (RSVB), human coronavirus 229E (HCoV229E), human coronavirus NL63 (HCoVNL63), and human parainfluenza virus 3 (HPIV3) increased by 91.89, 58.33, 44.68 and 24.29%, in 2020. The increased positive rates of RSVB, HPIV3, resulted in more outpatients in 2020 than in 2019. IFV detection rates declined dramatically across gender, age groups, and seasons in 2020.

Conclusion: NPIs taken to eliminate COVID-19 had an impact on the prevalence of respiratory viral pathogens, especially the IFVs in the early phases of the pandemic. Partial respiratory viruses resurged with the lifting of NPIs, leading to an increase in ARIs infection.

Keywords: COVID-19; Shanghai; acute respiratory infection; nonpharmaceutical interventions; viral pathogen.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

COVID-19* / epidemiology
China / epidemiology
Humans
Pandemics
Prevalence
Respiratory Tract Infections* / epidemiology

Grants and funding

This study was funded by Three-Year Initiative Plan for Strengthening Public Health System Construction in Shanghai (Grant no. GWVI-3), Research Grant for Health Science and Technology of Pudong Health Bureau of Shanghai (Grant no. PW2020A-75), Shanghai Municipal Health Commission’s Clinical Research Project (Grant no. 202240094), Public Health Highland Subject of Pudong Health Commission of Shanghai (Grant no. PWYggy2021-01), Shanghai Municipal Health Commission Key Disciplines (GWVI-11.1-02 Infectious Diseases), Key Discipline Program of Pudong New Area Health System (No. PWZxk2022-25), The Leader of Reserve Subjects of Shanghai Pudong New District Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Grant no. PDCDC-HBXD2020-04).