Abstract
Different preventive public health measures were adopted globally to limit the spread of SARS-CoV-2, such as hand hygiene and the use of masks, travel restrictions, social distance actions such as the closure of schools and workplaces, case and contact tracing, quarantine and lockdown. These measures, in particular physical distancing and the use of masks, might have contributed to containing the spread of other respiratory viruses that occurs principally by contact and droplet routes. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of different respiratory viruses (influenza viruses A and B, respiratory syncytial virus, parainfluenza viruses 1, 2, 3 and 4, rhinovirus, adenovirus, metapneumovirus and human coronaviruses) after one year of the pandemic. Furthermore, another aim was to evaluate the possible impact of these non-pharmaceutical measures on the circulation of seasonal respiratory viruses. This single center study was conducted between January 2017–February 2020 (pre-pandemic period) and March 2020–May 2021 (pandemic period). All adults >18 years with respiratory symptoms and tested for respiratory pathogens were included in the study. Nucleic acid detection of all respiratory viruses was performed by multiplex real time PCR. Our results show that the test positivity for influenza A and B, metapneumovirus, parainfluenza virus, respiratory syncytial virus and human coronaviruses decreased with statistical significance during the pandemic. Contrary to this, for adenovirus the decrease was not statistically significant. Conversely, a statistically significant increase was detected for rhinovirus. Coinfections between different respiratory viruses were observed during the pre-pandemic period, while the only coinfection detected during pandemic was between SARS-CoV-2 and rhinovirus. To understand how the preventive strategies against SARS-CoV-2 might alter the transmission dynamics and epidemic patterns of respiratory viruses is fundamental to guide future preventive recommendations.
Highlights
FLU viruses, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and common coronaviruses had a seasonal pattern with a peak in the winter months, and RV circulates year-round with a peak incidence in spring and fall, all the other respiratory viruses circulate throughout the entire year
12,483 patients were tested for different respiratory viruses
According to other studies [16,17,18,19,20,21,22,25,26], our results show that the circulation of respiratory viruses was disrupted during the pandemic, even if the magnitude of this effect was different between the viruses analyzed
Summary
Different respiratory viruses, including influenza viruses (FLU), rhinovirus (RV), respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), human metapneumovirus (hMPV), human coronaviruses (CoV), adenoviruses (AdV), and parainfluenza viruses (PIV) contribute to significant morbidity [1] and mortality [2] in adult persons, especially in older adults and in those with underlying comorbidities [3,4,5,6,7,8]. They are responsible for massive economic costs annually worldwide [9].
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