COVID-19 preventive measures coincided with a marked decline in other infectious diseases in Denmark, spring 2020

We aimed to descriptively analyse the possible impact of the national COVID-19 interventions on the incidence of common infectious diseases in Denmark during spring and summer 2020. This observational study focused on national register data on infections caused by 16 different bacterial and viral pa...

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Published inEpidemiology & Infection Vol. 150; p. e138
Main Authors Nielsen, Rikke Thoft, Dalby, Tine, Emborg, Hanne-Dorthe, Larsen, Anders Rhod, Petersen, Andreas, Torpdahl, Mia, Hoffmann, Steen, Vestergaard, Lasse Skafte, Valentiner-Branth, Palle
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Cambridge, UK Cambridge University Press 28.07.2022
Subjects
Bacteremia
COVID-19
Disease prevention
Epidemiology
Hygiene
Impact analysis
Infections
Infectious diseases
Original Paper
Public health
Respiratory syncytial virus
Schools
Spring
Streptococcus infections
Summer
Workplaces
Denmark
COVID-19
epidemiology
Bacterial infections
virus infection
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Summary:We aimed to descriptively analyse the possible impact of the national COVID-19 interventions on the incidence of common infectious diseases in Denmark during spring and summer 2020. This observational study focused on national register data on infections caused by 16 different bacterial and viral pathogens. We included new cases registered between 1 January 2016 and 31 July 2020. The weekly number of new cases were analysed with respect to the COVID-19-related interventions introduced during 2020. We found a marked decrease in infections associated with droplet transmission coinciding with the COVID-19 interventions in spring and summer 2020. These included decreases in both viral and bacterial airway infections and also decreases in invasive infections caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae and Neisseria meningitidis. There was also a reduction in cases associated with foodborne transmission during the COVID-19 lockdown period. We found no effect of the lockdown on infections by invasive beta-haemolytic streptococci group B, C and G, Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia, Neisseria gonorrhoeae or Clostridioides difficile. In conclusion, we found that the widespread interventions such as physical distancing, less travel, hygiene measures and lockdown of schools, restaurants and workplaces together coincided with a marked decline in respiratory infections and, to a smaller extent, some foodborne-transmitted infections.
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The manuscript was written as a joint first author between these authors.
ISSN:0950-2688
1469-4409
DOI:10.1017/S0950268822001145