Abstract

UNLABELLED: Non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPI) have been proven successful in a population-based approach to protect from SARS-CoV-2 transmission during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a consequential-effect, a reduction in the spread of all respiratory viruses has been observed, but the primary factors behind this phenomenon have yet to be identified. We conducted a subgroup analysis of participants from the ELISA study, a prospective longitudinal cohort study on SARS-CoV-2 transmission, at four timepoints from November 2020 - September 2022. The aim was to provide a detailed overview of the circulation of respiratory viruses over 2 years and to identify potential personal risk factors of virus distribution. All participants were screened using qPCR for respiratory viral infections from nasopharyngeal swabs and answered a questionnaire regarding behavioral factors. Several categories of risk factors for the transmission of respiratory viruses were evaluated using a scoring system. In total, 1,124 participants were included in the study, showing high adherence to governmental-introduced NPI. The overall number of respiratory virus infections was low (0-4.9% of participants), with adenovirus (1.7%), rhino-/enterovirus (3.2%) and SARS-CoV-2 (1.2%) being the most abundant. We detected an inverse correlation between the number and intensity of NPI and the number of detected respiratory viruses. More precisely, the attendance of social events and household size was associated with rhino-/enterovirus infection while social contacts were associated with being positive for any virus. NPI introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic reduced the occurrence of seasonal respiratory viruses in our study, showing different risk-factors for enhanced transmission between viruses.

TRIAL REGISTRATION: DRKS.de, German Clinical Trials Register (DRKS), Identifier: DRKS00023418, Registered on 28 October 2020.

Original languageEnglish
Article number1415778
JournalFrontiers in Public Health
Volume12
Pages (from-to)1415778
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2024

Research Areas and Centers

  • Academic Focus: Center for Infection and Inflammation Research (ZIEL)
  • Research Area: Center for Population Medicine and Public Health (ZBV)

DFG Research Classification Scheme

  • 2.21-05 Immunology
  • 2.22-13 Pneumology, Thoracic Surgery
  • 2.22-01 Epidemiology, Medical Biometry/Statistics
  • 2.22-02 Public Health, Healthcare Research, Social and Occupational Medicine

Coronavirus related work

  • Research on SARS-CoV-2 / COVID-19

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