Understanding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic response on GI infection surveillance trends in England, January 2020-April 2022



Love, Nicola K ORCID: 0000-0003-3750-7158, Douglas, Amy, Gharbia, Saheer, Hughes, Helen, Morbey, Roger, Oliver, Isabel, Smith, Gillian E and Elliot, Alex J ORCID: 0000-0002-6414-3065
(2023) Understanding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic response on GI infection surveillance trends in England, January 2020-April 2022. EPIDEMIOLOGY AND INFECTION, 151. e147-.

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Abstract

Stepwise non-pharmaceutical interventions and health system changes implemented as part of the COVID-19 response have had implications on the incidence, diagnosis, and reporting of other communicable diseases. Here, we established the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak response on gastrointestinal (GI) infection trends using routinely collected surveillance data from six national English laboratory, outbreak, and syndromic surveillance systems using key dates of governmental policy to assign phases for comparison between pandemic and historic data. Following decreases across all indicators during the first lockdown (March-May 2020), bacterial and parasitic pathogens associated with foodborne or environmental transmission routes recovered rapidly between June and September 2020, while those associated with travel and/or person-to-person transmission remained lower than expected for 2021. High out-of-season norovirus activity was observed with the easing of lockdown measures between June and October 2021, with this trend reflected in laboratory and outbreak systems and syndromic surveillance indicators. Above expected increases in emergency department (ED) attendances may have reflected changes in health-seeking behaviour and provision. Differential reductions across specific GI pathogens are indicative of the underlying routes of transmission. These results provide further insight into the drivers for transmission, which can help inform control measures for GI infections.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: COVID-19, foodborne infections, gastrointestinal infections, non-pharmaceutical interventions, surveillance
Divisions: Faculty of Health and Life Sciences
Faculty of Health and Life Sciences > Institute of Infection, Veterinary and Ecological Sciences
Faculty of Health and Life Sciences > Institute of Population Health
Depositing User: Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited: 02 Feb 2024 11:39
Last Modified: 02 Feb 2024 11:39
DOI: 10.1017/S095026882300136X
Open Access URL: https://doi.org/10.1017/S095026882300136X
Related URLs:
URI: https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3178362