Collateral Impact of COVID-19 Prevention Measures on Re-Emergence of Scarlet Fever and Pertussis in Mainland China and Hong Kong China

Yiran He; Chenjin Ma; Xiangyu Guo; Jinren Pan; Wangli Xu; Shelan Liu

doi:10.3390/ijerph19169909

Collateral Impact of COVID-19 Prevention Measures on Re-Emergence of Scarlet Fever and Pertussis in Mainland China and Hong Kong China

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Aug 11;19(16):9909. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19169909.

Authors

Yiran He¹, Chenjin Ma², Xiangyu Guo¹, Jinren Pan³, Wangli Xu¹, Shelan Liu³

Affiliations

¹ Center for Applied Statistics, School of Statistics, Renmin University of China, Beijing 100872, China.
² College of Statistics and Data Science, Faculty of Science, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100124, China.
³ Department of Infectious Diseases, Zhejiang Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Hangzhou 310051, China.

Abstract

The incidence of scarlet fever and pertussis has increased significantly in China in recent years. During the COVID-19 pandemic, stringent non-pharmaceutical intervention measures were widely adopted to contain the spread of the virus, which may also have essential collateral impacts on other infectious diseases, such as scarlet fever and pertussis. We compared the incidence data of scarlet fever and pertussis in Mainland China and Hong Kong from 2004 to 2021 before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The results show that the incidence of both diseases decreased significantly in 2020-2021 compared to the after-re-emergence stage in these two locations. Specifically, in 2020, scarlet fever decreased by 73.13% and pertussis by 76.63% in Mainland China, and 83.70% and 76.10%, respectively, in Hong Kong. In the absence of COVID-19, the predicted incidence of both diseases was much higher than the actual incidence in Mainland China and Hong Kong in 2020-2021. This study demonstrates that non-pharmaceutical measures implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic can partially reduce scarlet fever and pertussis re-emergence in Mainland China and Hong Kong.

Keywords: COVID-19; Hong Kong; Mainland China; pertussis; scarlet fever.

Publication types

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

MeSH terms

COVID-19* / epidemiology
COVID-19* / prevention & control
China / epidemiology
Hong Kong / epidemiology
Humans
Pandemics / prevention & control
Scarlet Fever* / epidemiology
Scarlet Fever* / prevention & control
Whooping Cough* / epidemiology
Whooping Cough* / prevention & control

Grants and funding

This research was funded by Zhejiang Provincial Program for the Cultivation of High-level Innovative Health Talents, National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No 11971478), Beijing Natural Science Foundation (Grant No Z200001), Public Health and Disease Control and Prevention, the Major Innovation and Planning Interdisciplinary Platform for the ‘Double-First Class’ Initiative in Renmin University of China (Grant No 2021PDPC), and Public Health and Disease Control and Prevention, Fund for Building World-Class Universities (Disciplines) of Renmin University of China.