The Negative Impact of COVID-19 in HCV, HIV, and HPV Surveillance Programs During the Different Pandemic Waves

Abstract

BackgroundThe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has been a worldwide stress test for health systems. 2 years have elapsed since the description of the first cases of pneumonia of unknown origin. This study quantifies the impact of COVID-19 in the screening program of chronic viral infections such as human papillomavirus (HPV), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and hepatitis C virus (HCV) along the six different pandemic waves in our population. Each wave had particular epidemiological, biological, or clinical patterns.MethodsWe analyzed the number of samples for screening of these viruses from March 2020 to February 2022, the new infections detected in the pandemic period compared to the previous year, the time elapsed between diagnosis and linking to treatment and follow-up of patients, and the percentage of late HIV diagnosis. Moreover, we used the origin of the samples as a marker for quantifying the restoration of activity in primary care.ResultsDuring the first pandemic year, the number of samples received was reduced by 26.7, 22.6, and 22.5% for molecular detection of HPV or serological HCV and HIV status respectively. The highest decrease was observed during the first wave with 70, 40, and 26.7% for HPV, HCV, and HIV. As expected, new diagnoses also decreased by 35.4, 58.2, and 40.5% for HPV, HCV, and HIV respectively during the first year of the pandemic. In the second year of the pandemic, the number of samples remained below pre-pandemic period levels for HCV (−3.6%) and HIV (−9.3%) but was slightly higher for HPV (8.0%). The new diagnoses in the second year of the pandemic were −16.1, −46.8, and −18.6% for HPV, HCV, and HIV respectively.ConclusionsUndoubtedly, an important number of new HPV, HCV, and HIV infections were lost during the COVID-19 pandemic, and surveillance programs were disrupted as a consequence of collapse of the health system. It is a priority to reinforce these surveillance programs as soon as possible in order to detect undiagnosed cases before the associated morbidity-mortality increases. New pandemic waves could increase the risk of reversing the achievements made over the last few decades.

Increasing HIV early diagnosis by implementing an automated screening strategy in emergency departments

“…Due to shifting healthcare restrictions, lockdowns and travel bans worldwide, a large number of migrant populations might not have been able to reach our ED. The impact of the pandemic reducing the number of HIV diagnoses has also been reported by other groups in multiple countries [48–53]. Regarding late diagnosis and missed opportunities, data from 12 September 2018 to 11 September 2019 are unaffected by the COVID‐19 pandemic and still show a reduction in late diagnosis, mean number of previous healthcare encounters and percentage of patients with at least one healthcare encounter, all of which hints favourably at the benefit of our intervention.…”

“…Regarding late diagnosis and missed opportunities, data from 12 September 2018 to 11 September 2019 are unaffected by the COVID‐19 pandemic and still show a reduction in late diagnosis, mean number of previous healthcare encounters and percentage of patients with at least one healthcare encounter, all of which hints favourably at the benefit of our intervention. Given the impact of the COVID‐19 pandemic on worldwide detection of HIV in general, we can speculate about an increase in the late diagnosis rate in the coming years, but this has not been reported so far [ 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 ]. Despite these limitations, our study demonstrated a robust methodology to generate essential HIV diagnoses and epidemiology data.…”

Rapid expansion of lymphogranuloma venereum infections with fast diversification and spread of Chlamydia trachomatis L genovariants

“…Our study reveals the actual increased risk of C. trachomatis generating new variants ( 30 ), which could be endowed with distinct tropisms, exploiting new ecological niches and spreading to other population groups. Efforts should, therefore, be undertaken to strengthen screening and surveillance programs, especially in the current situation with the continuous increase in STI infections and the post-pandemic SARS-CoV-2 period in which numerous screening programs were interrupted ( 31 ).…”

Trend of HPV Molecular Epidemiology in the Post-Vaccine Era: A 10-Year Study

“…Although this healthcare system is the largest in Taiwan, the data may not represent the entire country or other regions. In addition, throughout the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, COVID-19 has had a negative impact on the diagnosis of new HPV cases [ 41 ]. The study’s timeframe partially overlapped with the COVID-19 pandemic (December 2020).…”