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Multicenter Study
. 2021 Dec;10(1):1515-1518.
doi: 10.1080/22221751.2021.1957402.

The impact of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on the prevalence of respiratory tract pathogens in patients with community-acquired pneumonia in Germany

Theo Dähne  1 , Wolfgang Bauer  2 , Andreas Essig  3 , Bernhard Schaaf  4 , Christoph D Spinner  5 , Mathias W Pletz  6   7 , Gernot Rohde  7   8   9 , Jan Rupp  7   10 , Martin Witzenrath  7   11   12 , Marcus Panning  1 ; Members of the CAPNETZ study group
Affiliations
Multicenter Study

The impact of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on the prevalence of respiratory tract pathogens in patients with community-acquired pneumonia in Germany

Theo Dähne et al. Emerg Microbes Infect. 2021 Dec.

Abstract

We show a shift in the prevalence of respiratory viral pathogens in community-acquired pneumonia patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our data support the efficiency of non-pharmaceutical interventions on virus circulation except for rhinoviruses. The consequences of an altered circulation on subsequent winter seasons remain unclear and support the importance of systematic virological surveillance.

Keywords: SARS-CoV-2; community-acquired pneumonia; molecular methods; prospective study; viral pathogens.

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Conflict of interest statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Histogram showing the total number of patients tested positive for a respiratory pathogen (left y-axis) using multiplex real-time RT-PCR per month in 2018 (Panel A), 2019 (Panel B), and 2020 [Panel C, including severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)]. Black broken line (Influenza virus A/B, RKI) denotes influenza case notifications submitted to the Robert-Koch-Institute, Germany (right y-axis, in log scale). Influenza A/B, RKI numbers were extracted from SurvStat software on 10th March 2021.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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