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
. 2024 Aug;96(8):e29855.
doi: 10.1002/jmv.29855.

Epidemiology and viral loads of respiratory syncytial virus in hospitalized children prior to and during COVID-19 pandemic in Hangzhou, China

Yunying Chen  1 , Xinfeng Zhao  1 , Cuiying Ye  1 , Jun Zhou  1 , Jie Wang  1 , Xianfei Ye  2   3
Affiliations

Epidemiology and viral loads of respiratory syncytial virus in hospitalized children prior to and during COVID-19 pandemic in Hangzhou, China

Yunying Chen et al. J Med Virol. 2024 Aug.

Abstract

Non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) implemented to control SARS-CoV-2 have significantly influenced the activity of respiratory pathogens. This study investigated epidemiological changes among hospitalized patients with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) before (2017-2019) and during (2020-2022) the COVID-19 pandemic in Hangzhou, China. We also examined viral load distribution across demographic and temporal variables. Nasopharyngeal swabs were collected and RSV loads were quantified using reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). RSV epidemic characteristics, seasonal dynamics, and viral load distributions were compared between pre- and pandemic years. General linear models were employed to assess associations between viral loads and age. Among 19 742 cases, 1576 and 2092 tested positive during the pre- and pandemic years, respectively. From February to July 2020, the implementation of NPIs led to the cessation of RSV circulation. However, after these measures were relaxed, RSV cases resurged over two consecutive seasons during the pandemic, notably affecting older children compared to those in the pre-pandemic years (1.00 years, IQR: 0.50-2.00 vs. 0.58 years, IQR: 0.27-1.00, p < 0.001). Specifically, in 2021-2022, an off-season resurgence of RSV began earlier (mid-June), lasted longer (40 weeks), and involved more positive cases (1238 cases) than both 2020-2021 and pre-pandemic years. Viral load distribution demonstrated a clear age-related relationship in both pre- and pandemic years, with younger children consistently showing higher viral loads, independently of gender and season (all p-values for trends <0.001). These findings highlight the impact of NPIs on RSV epidemiology and underscore the need to prioritize RSV infection prevention in younger children from the perspective of viral load.

Keywords: COVID‐19; epidemiology; non‐pharmaceutical interventions; respiratory syncytial virus; viral loads.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

REFERENCES

    1. Sullivan SG, Carlson S, Cheng AC, et al. Where has all the influenza gone? The impact of COVID‐19 on the circulation of influenza and other respiratory viruses, Australia, March to September 2020. Euro Surveill. 2020;25(47):2001847.
    1. Williams TC, Sinha I, Barr IG, Zambon M. Transmission of paediatric respiratory syncytial virus and influenza in the wake of the COVID‐19 pandemic. Euro Surveill. 2021;26(29):2100186.
    1. Li Y, Wang X, Cong B, Deng S, Feikin DR, Nair H. Understanding the potential drivers for respiratory syncytial virus rebound during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. J Infect Dis. 2022;225(6):957‐964.
    1. Tang S, Wang X, Tang B, et al. Threshold conditions for curbing COVID‐19 with a dynamic zero‐case policy derived from 101 outbreaks in China. BMC Public Health. 2023;23(1):1084.
    1. Zheng Z, Pitzer VE, Warren JL, Weinberger DM. Community factors associated with local epidemic timing of respiratory syncytial virus: a spatiotemporal modeling study. Sci Adv. 2021;7(26):eabd6421.

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources