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The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Associated Public Health Measures on Other Notifiable Infectious Diseases Under National Surveillance in Germany, Week 1-2016 – Week 32-2020

29 Pages Posted: 14 Dec 2020

See all articles by Alexander Ullrich

Alexander Ullrich

Robert Koch Institute - Department for Infectious Disease Epidemiology

Madlen Schranz

Robert Koch Institute - Department for Infectious Disease Epidemiology

Ute Rexroth

Robert Koch Institute - Department for Infectious Disease Epidemiology

Osamah Hamouda

Robert Koch Institute - Department for Infectious Disease Epidemiology

Lars Schaade

Robert Koch Institute -Centre for Biological Threats and Special Pathogens

Michaela Diercke

Robert Koch Institute - Department for Infectious Disease Epidemiology

T. Sonia Boender

Robert Koch Institute - Department for Infectious Disease Epidemiology

More...

Abstract

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic and associated public health measures affect healthcare seeking behaviour, access to healthcare, test strategies, disease notification and workload at public health authorities, but may also lead to a true change in transmission dynamics. We aimed to assess the impact of the pandemic and associated public health measures on other notifiable infectious diseases under surveillance in Germany.

Methods: We included 32 nationally notifiable diseases categories with case numbers >100/year in 2016-2019. We used quasi-Poisson regression analysis on a weekly aggregated time-series incorporating trend and seasonality, to compute the relative change in case numbers during week 2020-10 to 2020-32 (pandemic), in comparison to week 2016-01 to 2020-09.

Findings: During week 2020-10 to 2020-32, 216,825 COVID-19 cases, and 162,942 (-35%) cases of other diseases, were notified. Case numbers decreased across all ages and notification categories (all p<0·005), except for tick-borne encephalitis, which increased (+58%). Cases of respiratory diseases (from -86% for measles, to -12% for tuberculosis), gastro-intestinal diseases (from -83% for rotavirus gastroenteritis, to -7% for yersiniosis) and imported vector-borne diseases (-75% dengue fever, -73% malaria) decreased the most, followed by healthcare associated pathogens (from -43% infection/colonisation with carbapenem-non-susceptible Acinetobacter, to -28% for Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus invasive infection) and sexually transmitted and blood-borne diseases (from -28% for hepatitis B, to -12% for syphilis).

Interpretation: During the COVID-19 pandemic a drastic decrease of notifications for most infectious diseases and pathogens was observed. Our findings suggest effects of non-pharmaceutical COVID-19 countermeasures on overall disease transmission that require further investigation.

Funding: None.

Declaration of Interests: We declare no competing interests.

Ethics Approval Statement: Pseudonymized notification data was collected at the RKI based on the German Infection Protection Act.

Suggested Citation

Ullrich, Alexander and Schranz, Madlen and Rexroth, Ute and Hamouda, Osamah and Schaade, Lars and Diercke, Michaela and Boender, T. Sonia, The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Associated Public Health Measures on Other Notifiable Infectious Diseases Under National Surveillance in Germany, Week 1-2016 – Week 32-2020. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3748410 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3748410

Alexander Ullrich

Robert Koch Institute - Department for Infectious Disease Epidemiology ( email )

Berlin
Germany

Madlen Schranz

Robert Koch Institute - Department for Infectious Disease Epidemiology ( email )

Berlin
Germany

Ute Rexroth

Robert Koch Institute - Department for Infectious Disease Epidemiology ( email )

Berlin
Germany

Osamah Hamouda

Robert Koch Institute - Department for Infectious Disease Epidemiology

Berlin
Germany

Lars Schaade

Robert Koch Institute -Centre for Biological Threats and Special Pathogens ( email )

Berlin
Germany

Michaela Diercke

Robert Koch Institute - Department for Infectious Disease Epidemiology ( email )

Berlin
Germany

T. Sonia Boender (Contact Author)

Robert Koch Institute - Department for Infectious Disease Epidemiology ( email )

Berlin
Germany

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