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. 2021 Sep 3;115(9):944-946.
doi: 10.1093/trstmh/trab058.

Dengue and leptospirosis infection during the coronavirus 2019 outbreak in Sri Lanka

M A Niriella  1 , D S Ediriweera  1 , A P De Silva  1 , B H R Premarathna  1 , S Jayasinghe  2 , H J de Silva  1
Affiliations

Dengue and leptospirosis infection during the coronavirus 2019 outbreak in Sri Lanka

M A Niriella et al. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg. .

Abstract

A significant decrease in dengue fever cases and a contrasting increase in leptospirosis cases were reported for the second quarter of 2020 compared with 2019 in Sri Lanka. In the absence of significant environmental and weather-related differences to account for these changes in incidence, we investigated the possibility that the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on public health, social behaviour and the restrictions imposed during the lockdown influenced the fluctuations in dengue and leptospirosis infections.

Keywords: COVID-19; dengue fever; leptospirosis; pandemic; tropical infections.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Seasonal variation of monthly dengue cases from January 2016 to September 2020 and reported COVID-19 cases from March to September 2020. The black line indicates the seasonal variation of monthly dengue cases from January 2016 to September 2020. The red line indicates the reported COVID-19 cases from March to September 2020. The grey colour band shows the IQR (Q1–Q3) of monthly dengue cases reported from January to September before COVID-19. The dashed line indicates the minimum number of monthly dengue cases reported from January to September before COVID-19. The arrow indicates the time of the first local case of COVID-19 in Sri Lanka.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Seasonal variation of monthly leptospirosis cases from January 2016 to September 2020 and reported COVID-19 cases from March to September 2020. The black line indicates the seasonal variation of monthly leptospirosis cases from January 2016 to September 2020. The red line indicates the reported COVID-19 cases from March to September 2020. The grey colour band shows the IQR (Q1–Q3) of monthly leptospirosis cases reported from January to September before COVID-19. The dashed line indicates the maximum number of monthly leptospirosis cases reported from January to September before COVID-19. The arrow indicates the time of the first local case of COVID-19 in Sri Lanka.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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