New epidemiological trends of respiratory syncytial virus bronchiolitis during COVID-19 pandemic

Castagno, Emanuele; Raffaldi, Irene; Monte, Francesco Del; Garazzino, Silvia; Bondone, Claudia

doi:10.1007/s12519-022-00623-4

Cited by 12 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 8 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…From this point of view, research volumes for keywords such as Respiratory Syncytial Virus, its acronym RSV, and Bronchiolitis, did experience a sudden and substantial surge during the last week of 2021, with similar features from the analysis of the daily visualization of Wikipedia web pages. The retrieved trends mirrored some regional estimates on the incidence of RSV cases [ 66 , 67 ] and even multicentric reports [ 66 ]: compared to the pre-pandemic era, admission for Bronchiolitis sharply decreased during the first year of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic (i.e., −87% during 2020–2021), with a substantial resurgence during the 2021–2022 (i.e., +369% compared to 2020–2021), and 1177% compared to 2021–2022. In addition, our data were affected by a similar seesaw trend, seemingly suggesting a consistent correlation with the actual circulation of the pathogen.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 59%

“…In fact, severe acute respiratory illnesses (ARI) and LRTI definitions, which also include Bronchiolitis and Pneumonia, would represent a far better proxy for this pathogen, but again the correspondent seasonal data on the Italian population remains either fragmentary or unavailable [ 4 , 48 ]. Therefore, the lack of the actual and consistent predictive effect on research volumes for RSV and Respiratory Syncytial Virus can be explained through the inconsistency and substantial imbalance between what Public Health professionals would need to measure when dealing with RSV, and what available surveillance data actually report [ 19 , 29 , 65 , 66 , 70 ]. Not coincidentally, in the regression analysis models, search terms such as Influenza and Bronchitis were identified as significant predictors for ILI, while the visualization rates for the Wikipedia page on Bronchiolitis were characterized as negative predictors for ILI in pediatric age groups of infants (0–4 years) and children (5–14 years).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Infodemiology of RSV in Italy (2017–2022): An Alternative Option for the Surveillance of Incident Cases in Pediatric Age?

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The aim of this study was to evaluate whether or not online queries for Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) retrieved by means of Google Trends™ and the Italian Wikipedia analysis program mirror the occurrence of influenza-like illnesses (ILI), as reported by the Italian Influenza Surveillance network (InfluNet). Estimated rates for ILI in the general population and in the age groups 0–4 years and 5–14 years were obtained for the influenza seasons 2017–2018 to 2020–2021. Similarly, a weekly fraction of online searches was retrieved for a series of terms associated with Respiratory Syncytial Virus. Next, trends for daily visualization of Italian Wikipedia Pages for Human Respiratory Syncytial Virus, Pneumonia, Bronchiolitis, Influenza, and Respiratory Failure were similarly retrieved. The correlation of all search terms with ILI was analyzed by means of Spearman’s rank correlation analysis. Among search terms associated with the clinical diagnosis of Respiratory Syncytial Virus infections, the occurrence of ILI was highly correlated only with Bronchiolitis in the age group 0–4 years (β 0.210, p = 0.028), while more generic search terms, such as Bronchitis, fever, influenza, and Pneumonia, were identified as effective predictors of ILI, in general and by age groups. In a regression analysis modeled with ILIs as the outcome variable, daily visualizations for the Wikipedia pages on Bronchiolitis were identified as negative predictors for ILI in general (β = −0.152, p = 0.032), ILI in age group 0–4 years (β = −0.264, p = 0.001) and 5–14 years (β = −0.202, p = 0.006), while Influenza was characterized as a positive effector for ILIs in the age group 5–14 years (β = 0.245, p = 0.001). Interestingly, not only were the search terms extensively correlated with one another, but all of them were also characterized by autocorrelation through a Durbin-Watson test (all estimates DW < 2.0) In summary, our study identified a complicated pattern of data visualization as no clear association between rates of ILI in pediatric age group 0–4 and 5 to 14 years was actually found. Finally, our data stress that the infodemiology option may be quite problematic for assessing the time trend of RSV infections in Italy until more appropriate reporting will be made available, by sharing estimates of Lower Respiratory Tract Infections, and through a more accurate characterization of younger age groups.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 59%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Infodemiology of RSV in Italy (2017–2022): An Alternative Option for the Surveillance of Incident Cases in Pediatric Age?

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…We provided only a partial view of the seasonality of RSV infections over the past 3 years, because we took into consideration only the last four months of the three study years: nevertheless, there is evidence of a spike in cases in November in 2021, earlier than the usual peak between December and February in our latitudes. It is interesting to note that previous local studies with an observational study period extended from January to December did not observe any outbreaks of RSV bronchiolitis during spring and summer 2021 [ 31 ]. Another remarkable finding is the evidence of an important reduction in RSV cases after the advent of the Omicron variant in Italy, as previously reported by Halabi et al also in the United States (USA) [ 32 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Anyway, the spike in cases in late 2021 has challenged the Italian National Health Care System: hospital reorganization, with the provision of temporary facilities to increase the number of inpatient beds, was necessary [ 20 , 31 ], particularly within referral centers equipped with a PICU. Despite this, in our setting in 2021, some patients with less severe diseases were transferred from the referral center to other hospitals due to ED overcrowding and a lack of beds, which rarely occurred in previous years.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Importance of RSV Epidemiological Surveillance: A Multicenter Observational Study of RSV Infection during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Pruccoli

Castagno

Raffaldi

et al. 2023

Viruses

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The restrictive measures adopted worldwide against SARS-CoV-2 produced a drastic reduction in respiratory pathogens, including RSV, but a dramatic rebound was thereafter reported. In this multicenter retrospective observational study in 15 Pediatric Emergency Departments, all children <3 years old with RSV infection admitted between 1 September and 31 December 2021 were included and compared to those admitted in the same period of 2020 and 2019. The primary aim was to evaluate RSV epidemiology during and after the COVID-19 pandemic peak. The secondary aims were to evaluate the clinical features of children with RSV infection. Overall, 1015 children were enrolled: 100 in 2019, 3 in 2020 and 912 in 2021. In 2019, the peak was recorded in December, and in 2021, it was recorded in November. Comparing 2019 to 2021, in 2021 the median age was significantly higher and the age group 2–3 years was more affected. Admissions were significantly higher in 2021 than in 2020 and 2019, and the per-year hospitalization rate was lower in 2021 (84% vs. 93% in 2019), while the duration of admissions was similar. No difference was found in severity between 2019–2020–2021. In conclusion, after the COVID-19 pandemic, an increase in RSV cases in 2021 exceeding the median seasonal peak was detected, with the involvement of older children, while no difference was found in severity.

show abstract

“…However, the seasonal patterns of several infectious diseases, including RSV, have been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic [ 3 , 4 , 5 ]. Specifically, RSV outbreaks were suppressed at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic (i.e., during the 2020–2021 period) [ 6 ] and resumed with irregular timing and increased magnitude from 2021–2022 onwards [ 7 , 8 ], e.g., see Japan [ 9 ], United States [ 10 ], United Kingdom [ 8 ], Turkey [ 11 ], Belgium [ 12 ] and Italy [ 13 ] in Northern Hemisphere, as well as Australia [ 14 , 15 , 16 ], New Zealand [ 17 ], Chile, Africa, Brazil [ 18 ] and other countries in the Southern Hemisphere [ 10 ]. These findings highlight the value of surveillance systems for RSV and other respiratory diseases during and after future pandemics, as the lifting of mitigation measures may result in severe outbreaks occurring with irregular timing [ 15 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Real-Time Monitoring of Infectious Disease Outbreaks with a Combination of Google Trends Search Results and the Moving Epidemic Method: A Respiratory Syncytial Virus Case Study

Wang

Guerra²,

Wittke

et al. 2023

TropicalMed

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the seasonal patterns of several infectious diseases. Understanding when and where an outbreak may occur is vital for public health planning and response. We usually rely on well-functioning surveillance systems to monitor epidemic outbreaks. However, not all countries have a well-functioning surveillance system in place, or at least not for the pathogen in question. We utilized Google Trends search results for RSV-related keywords to identify outbreaks. We evaluated the strength of the Pearson correlation coefficient between clinical surveillance data and online search data and applied the Moving Epidemic Method (MEM) to identify country-specific epidemic thresholds. Additionally, we established pseudo-RSV surveillance systems, enabling internal stakeholders to obtain insights on the speed and risk of any emerging RSV outbreaks in countries with imprecise disease surveillance systems but with Google Trends data. Strong correlations between RSV clinical surveillance data and Google Trends search results from several countries were observed. In monitoring an upcoming RSV outbreak with MEM, data collected from both systems yielded similar estimates of country-specific epidemic thresholds, starting time, and duration. We demonstrate in this study the potential of monitoring disease outbreaks in real time and complement classical disease surveillance systems by leveraging online search data.

show abstract

New epidemiological trends of respiratory syncytial virus bronchiolitis during COVID-19 pandemic

Cited by 12 publications

References 8 publications

Infodemiology of RSV in Italy (2017–2022): An Alternative Option for the Surveillance of Incident Cases in Pediatric Age?

Infodemiology of RSV in Italy (2017–2022): An Alternative Option for the Surveillance of Incident Cases in Pediatric Age?

The Importance of RSV Epidemiological Surveillance: A Multicenter Observational Study of RSV Infection during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Real-Time Monitoring of Infectious Disease Outbreaks with a Combination of Google Trends Search Results and the Moving Epidemic Method: A Respiratory Syncytial Virus Case Study

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About