Trends in gastrointestinal infections before and during non-pharmaceutical interventions in Korea in comparison with the United States

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: This study examined how trends in the weekly frequencies of gastrointestinal infectious diseases changed before and during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in Korea, and compared them with the trends in the United States.METHODS: We compared the weekly frequencies of gastrointestinal infectious diseases (16 bacterial and 6 viral diseases) in Korea during weeks 5-52 before and after COVID-19. In addition, the weekly frequencies of 5 gastrointestinal infectious diseases in the United States (data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) that overlapped with those in Korea were compared.RESULTS: The mean weekly number of total cases of gastrointestinal infectious diseases in Korea showed a significant decrease (from 522 before COVID-19 to 245 after COVID-19, p<0.01). Only bacterial gastrointestinal infectious diseases caused by <i>Campylobacter</i> increased significantly; other bacterial gastrointestinal infectious diseases showed either a decrease or no change. The incidence of all other viral diseases decreased. In the United States, the weekly numbers of <i>Salmonella</i>, <i>Campylobacter</i>, typhoid, shigellosis, and hepatitis A virus cases sharply decreased after the COVID-19 outbreak. The weekly case numbers of all viral diseases markedly decreased in both countries; however, bacterial gastrointestinal infectious diseases showed a different pattern.CONCLUSIONS: The incidence of gastrointestinal infectious diseases decreased after the COVID-19 outbreak. In contrast, <i>Campylobacter</i> infections showed an increasing trend in Korea, but a decreasing trend in the United States. Further studies are needed to elucidate the different trends in bacterial and viral infectious diseases before and after non-pharmaceutical interventions and between different countries.