Changing patterns of infectious diseases in children during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Each infectious disease has had its own epidemic pattern and seasonality for decades. However, public health mitigation measures during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic have resulted in changing epidemic patterns of infectious diseases. Stringent measures resulted in low incidences of various infectious diseases during the outbreak of COVID-19, including influenza, respiratory syncytial virus, pneumococcus, enterovirus, and parainfluenza. Owing to the prevalence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections and subsequent immunity development, decreasing virulence of SARS-CoV-2, and worldwide immunization against SARS-CoV-2 in children beyond 6 months of age, mitigation measures are lifted country by country. Consequently, the immunity debt to infectious respiratory viruses other than SARS-CoV-2 contributed to the “off-season,” “see-saw,” and “upsurge” patterns of various infectious diseases in children. Moreover, apart from the persistence of SARS-CoV-2, the coexistence of other circulating viruses or bacterial outbreaks may lead to twindemics or tripledemics during the following years. Therefore, it is necessary to maintain hand hygiene and immunization policies against various pathogens to alleviate the ongoing impact of infectious diseases on children.