Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated non-pharmaceutical interventions on other notifiable infectious diseases in Germany: An analysis of national surveillance data during week 1–2016 – week 32–2020

• Main Authors: Alexander Ullrich, Madlen Schranz, Ute Rexroth, Osamah Hamouda, Lars Schaade, Michaela Diercke, T. Sonia Boender
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2021-07-01
• Series: The Lancet Regional Health. Europe
• Subjects: Public health surveillance; COVID-19; Pandemics; Disease transmission, infectious; Cohort studies; General Practitioners
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666776221000806

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic and associated non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) affect healthcare seeking behaviour, access to healthcare, test strategies, disease notification and workload at public health authorities, but may also lead to a true change in transmission dynamics. We aimed to assess the impact of the pandemic and NPIs on other notifiable infectious diseases under surveillance in Germany. Methods: We included 32 nationally notifiable disease categories with case numbers >100/year in 2016–2019. We used quasi-Poisson regression analysis on a weekly aggregated time-series incorporating trend and seasonality, to compute the relative change in case numbers during week 2020–10 to 2020–32 (pandemic/NPIs), in comparison to week 2016–01 to 2020–09. Findings: During week 2020–10 to 2020–32, 216,825 COVID-19 cases, and 162,942 (-35%) cases of other diseases, were notified. Case numbers decreased across all ages and notification categories (all p<0•05), except for tick-borne encephalitis, which increased (+58%). The number of cases decreased most for respiratory diseases (from -86% for measles, to -12% for tuberculosis), gastro-intestinal diseases (from -83% for rotavirus gastroenteritis, to -7% for yersiniosis) and imported vector-borne diseases (-75% dengue fever, -73% malaria). The less affected infections were healthcare associated pathogens (from -43% infection/colonisation with carbapenem-non-susceptible Acinetobacter, to -28% for Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus invasive infection) and sexually transmitted and blood-borne diseases (from -28% for hepatitis B, to -12% for syphilis). Interpretation: During the COVID-19 pandemic a drastic decrease of notifications for most infectious diseases and pathogens was observed. Our findings suggest effects of NPIs on overall disease transmission that require further investigation. Funding: The Robert Koch Institute is the National Public Health Institute of Germany, and is an institute within the portfolio of the Federal Ministry of Health.