Trends in Influenza Infections in Three States of India from 2015&ndash;2021: Has There Been a Change during COVID-19 Pandemic?

Jayaram, Anup; Jagadesh, Anitha; Kumar, Ajay M. V.; Davtyan, Hayk; Thekkur, Pruthu; Vilas, Victor J. Del Rio; Mandal, Shrawan Kumar; Sudandiradas, Robin; Babu, Naren; Varamballi, Prasad; Shetty, Ujwal; Mukhopadhyay, Chiranjay

doi:10.3390/tropicalmed7060110

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Trends in Influenza Infections in Three States of India from 2015–2021: Has There Been a Change during COVID-19 Pandemic?

^1,*

¹,

^2,3,4

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Victor J. Del Rio Vilas

⁶,

⁷

¹,

¹,

and

Chiranjay Mukhopadhyay

Manipal Institute of Virology, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, Karnataka 576104, India

International Union against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, 2 Rue Jean Lantier, 75001 Paris, France

International Union against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, South-East Asia Office, C-6 Qutub Institutional Area, New Delhi 110016, India

⁴

Yenapoya Medical College, Yenapoya (Deemed to be University), University Road, Deralakatte, Manguluru 575018, India

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Tuberculosis Research and Prevention Centre NGO, Yerevan 0014, Armenia

⁶

World Health Organization, World Health Emergencies, Southeast Asia Regional Office, New Delhi 110011, India

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Sukaraj Tropical and Infectious Disease Hospital, Teku, Kathmandu 44600, Nepal

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Academic Editor: Lucille Blumberg

Trop. Med. Infect. Dis. 2022, 7(6), 110; https://doi.org/10.3390/tropicalmed7060110

Received: 10 May 2022 / Revised: 13 June 2022 / Accepted: 16 June 2022 / Published: 19 June 2022

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Operational Research and Capacity Building to Strengthen Health Systems for Tackling Public Health Emergencies)

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Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic and public health response to the pandemic has caused huge setbacks in the management of other infectious diseases. In the present study, we aimed to (i) assess the trends in numbers of samples from patients with influenza-like illness and severe acute respiratory syndrome tested for influenza and the number and proportion of cases detected from 2015–2021 and (ii) examine if there were changes during the COVID-19 period (2020–2021) compared to the pre-COVID-19 period (2015–2019) in three states of India. The median (IQR) number of samples tested per month during the pre-COVID-19 period was 653 (395–1245), compared to 27 (11–98) during the COVID-19 period (p value < 0.001). The median (IQR) number of influenza cases detected per month during the pre-COVID-19 period was 190 (113–372), compared to 29 (27–30) during the COVID-19 period (p value < 0.001). Interrupted time series analysis (adjusting for seasonality and testing charges) confirmed a significant reduction in the total number of samples tested and influenza cases detected during the COVID-19 period. However, there was no change in the influenza positivity rate between pre-COVID-19 (29%) and COVID-19 (30%) period. These findings suggest that COVID-19-related disruptions, poor health-seeking behavior, and overburdened health systems might have led to a reduction in reported influenza cases rather than a true reduction in disease transmission. View Full-Text

Keywords: influenza; COVID-19; India; interrupted time series (ITS) analysis; influenza-like illness (ILI); severe acute respiratory illness (SARI); surveillance; SORT IT; operational research

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Jayaram, A.; Jagadesh, A.; Kumar, A.M.V.; Davtyan, H.; Thekkur, P.; Vilas, V.J.D.R.; Mandal, S.K.; Sudandiradas, R.; Babu, N.; Varamballi, P.; Shetty, U.; Mukhopadhyay, C. Trends in Influenza Infections in Three States of India from 2015–2021: Has There Been a Change during COVID-19 Pandemic? Trop. Med. Infect. Dis. 2022, 7, 110. https://doi.org/10.3390/tropicalmed7060110

AMA Style

Jayaram A, Jagadesh A, Kumar AMV, Davtyan H, Thekkur P, Vilas VJDR, Mandal SK, Sudandiradas R, Babu N, Varamballi P, Shetty U, Mukhopadhyay C. Trends in Influenza Infections in Three States of India from 2015–2021: Has There Been a Change during COVID-19 Pandemic? Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease. 2022; 7(6):110. https://doi.org/10.3390/tropicalmed7060110

Chicago/Turabian Style

Jayaram, Anup, Anitha Jagadesh, Ajay M.V. Kumar, Hayk Davtyan, Pruthu Thekkur, Victor J.D.R. Vilas, Shrawan K. Mandal, Robin Sudandiradas, Naren Babu, Prasad Varamballi, Ujwal Shetty, and Chiranjay Mukhopadhyay. 2022. "Trends in Influenza Infections in Three States of India from 2015–2021: Has There Been a Change during COVID-19 Pandemic?" Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease 7, no. 6: 110. https://doi.org/10.3390/tropicalmed7060110

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