Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Sep 25;155(6):249-253.
doi: 10.1016/j.medcli.2020.05.026. Epub 2020 Jun 5.

Collateral benefits on other respiratory infections during fighting COVID-19

[Article in English, Spanish]
Khee-Siang Chan  1 , Fu-Wen Liang  2 , Hung-Jen Tang  3 , Han Siong Toh  4 , Wen-Liang Yu  5
Affiliations

Collateral benefits on other respiratory infections during fighting COVID-19

[Article in English, Spanish]
Khee-Siang Chan et al. Med Clin (Barc). .

Abstract
in English, Spanish

Purpose: Influenza virus infection is associated with a high disease burden. COVID-19 caused by SARS-CoV-2 has become a pandemic outbreak since January 2020. Taiwan has effectively contained COVID-19 community transmission. We aimed to validate whether fighting COVID-19 could help to control other respiratory infections in Taiwan.

Method: We collected week-case data of severe influenza, invasive Streptococcus pneumoniae disease and death toll from pneumonia among 25 calendar weeks of the influenza season for four years (2016-2020), which were reported to Taiwan CDC. Trend and slope differences between years were compared.

Result: A downturn trend of severe influenza, invasive S. pneumoniae disease and the death toll from pneumonia per week in 2019/2020 season and significant trend difference in comparison to previous seasons were noted, especially after initiation of several disease prevention measures to fight potential COVID-19 outbreak in Taiwan.

Conclusions: Fighting COVID-19 achieved collateral benefits on significant reductions of severe influenza burden, invasive S. pneumoniae disease activity, and the death toll from pneumonia reported to CDC in Taiwan.

Propósitos: La COVID-19, causada por SARS-CoV-2, se ha convertido en un brote de pandemia desde enero de 2020. Taiwán ha contenido efectivamente la transmisión comunitaria de la COVID-19. Por otra parte, la influenza también es una enfermedad que se asocia con una alta carga de morbilidades. El objetivo del estudio es validar si combatir la COVID-19 podría ayudar a controlar otras infecciones respiratorias en Taiwán.

Métodos: Recopilamos datos semanales de casos de influenza grave, infecciones invasivas por Streptococcus pneumoniae y número de muertes por neumonía, que se informaron a los CDC de Taiwán en las 25 semanas de la temporada de influenza durante 4 años (2016-2020). Comparamos las diferencias de tendencia y de pendiente entre los años.

Resultados: Se observó una tendencia a la baja de la influenza grave, de las infecciones invasivas por Streptococcus pneumoniae y del número de muertes por neumonía por semana en la temporada de influenza de 2019-2020. Se observaron diferencias significativas en la tendencia en comparación con las temporadas anteriores, especialmente después del inicio de varias medidas de prevención de enfermedades para combatir el posible brote de COVID-19 en Taiwán.

Conclusiones: Por el número de casos reportados a los CDC de Taiwán, encontramos que la lucha contra la COVID-19 logró beneficios colaterales en cuanto a reducción significativa de la carga de la influenza grave, a las infecciones invasivas por Streptococcus pneumoniae y al número de muertes por neumonía.

Keywords: COVID-19; Influenza; Mascarilla; Mask; SARS-CoV-2; Streptococcus pneumoniae.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Influenza seasons run 25 weeks from November to following April each year. Taiwan's national severe influenza (2019/2020) case number dropped from a peak in January down to zero in March 2020 (A). The severe influenza and invasive Streptococcus pneumoniae activities were reversed from initiation of the measures to fight the COVID-19 outbreak in January (A and B). The death toll from pneumonia in the 2019/2020 influenza season was slightly downward in contrast to escalating trends of previous influenza seasons (C).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 2017–2018 Estimated influenza illnesses, medical visits, hospitalizations, and deaths and estimated influenza illnesses, medical visits, hospitalizations, and deaths averted by vaccination in the United States. https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden-averted/2017-2018.htm
    1. Sakamoto H., Ishikane M., Ueda P. Seasonal influenza activity during the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak in Japan. JAMA. 2020 doi: 10.1001/jama.2020.6173. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Wang C.J., Ng C.Y., Brook R.H. Response to COVID-19 in Taiwan: big data analytics new technology, and proactive testing. JAMA. 2020 doi: 10.1001/jama.2020.3151. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Cheng H.Y., Li S.Y., Yang C.H. Initial rapid and proactive response for the COVID-19 outbreak – Taiwan's experience. J Formos Med Assoc. 2020 doi: 10.1016/j.jfma.2020.03.007. pii:S0929-6646(20)30081-4. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Lin C., Braund W.E., Auerbach J., Chou J.H., Teng J.H., Tu P. Policy decisions and use of information technology to fight 2019 novel Coronavirus disease, Taiwan. Emerg Infect Dis. 2020;26 doi: 10.3201/eid2607.200574. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

MeSH terms