Changing patterns of infectious diseases in children during the COVID-19 pandemic

Ming-Chun Yang; Yu-Tsun Su; Ping-Hong Chen; Ching-Chung Tsai; Ting-I Lin; Jiunn-Ren Wu

doi:10.3389/fcimb.2023.1200617

Changing patterns of infectious diseases in children during the COVID-19 pandemic

Front Cell Infect Microbiol. 2023 Jun 29:13:1200617. doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2023.1200617. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Ming-Chun Yang^{1

2}, Yu-Tsun Su^{1

3}, Ping-Hong Chen¹, Ching-Chung Tsai^{1

3}, Ting-I Lin¹, Jiunn-Ren Wu¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pediatrics, E-DA Hospital, I-Shou University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
² School of Medicine, College of Medicine, I-Shou University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
³ School of Medicine for International Students, College of Medicine, I-Shou University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.

Abstract

Each infectious disease has had its own epidemic pattern and seasonality for decades. However, public health mitigation measures during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic have resulted in changing epidemic patterns of infectious diseases. Stringent measures resulted in low incidences of various infectious diseases during the outbreak of COVID-19, including influenza, respiratory syncytial virus, pneumococcus, enterovirus, and parainfluenza. Owing to the prevalence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections and subsequent immunity development, decreasing virulence of SARS-CoV-2, and worldwide immunization against SARS-CoV-2 in children beyond 6 months of age, mitigation measures are lifted country by country. Consequently, the immunity debt to infectious respiratory viruses other than SARS-CoV-2 contributed to the "off-season," "see-saw," and "upsurge" patterns of various infectious diseases in children. Moreover, apart from the persistence of SARS-CoV-2, the coexistence of other circulating viruses or bacterial outbreaks may lead to twindemics or tripledemics during the following years. Therefore, it is necessary to maintain hand hygiene and immunization policies against various pathogens to alleviate the ongoing impact of infectious diseases on children.

Keywords: coronavirus disease 2019; immune debt; influenza; pediatric; pneumococcus; respiratory syncytial virus; respiratory tract infection.

Publication types

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

MeSH terms

COVID-19* / epidemiology
COVID-19* / prevention & control
Child
Communicable Diseases*
Humans
Influenza, Human* / epidemiology
Pandemics / prevention & control
Respiratory Tract Infections*
SARS-CoV-2

Grants and funding

This study was supported by intramural funding provided by the E-DA Hospital (EDAHP 112014, EDPJ 111048). The sponsor was not involved in the study design, collection, analysis, and interpretation of data, writing of the report, or decision to submit the manuscript for publication.