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Social distancing and bacteraemia in the time of COVID-19
Itamar Feldman1, Ayman Natsheh1, Gideon Nesher1,2
1Department of Internal Medicine, Rheumatology Unit, Shaare Zedek Medical Center, Jerusalem, Israel.
Insights
Social distancing measures during the COVID-19 pandemic significantly reduced bacteraemia cases, particularly those caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae and oropharyngeal organisms. These findings suggest that public health interventions can lower the incidence of bacterial infections.
Area of Science:
- Infectious Diseases
- Public Health
- Epidemiology
Background:
- Social distancing was a primary strategy to control Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) spread.
- The impact of these non-pharmaceutical interventions on other infectious diseases remains an area of investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the effect of social distancing on the incidence of bacteraemia.
- To compare bacteraemia rates during COVID-19 restrictions with historical data.
Main Methods:
- Retrospective analysis of positive blood cultures from January to July 2017-2020.
- Comparison of bacteraemia cases in April-May 2020 with the same period in 2017-2019 at a tertiary medical center.
Main Results:
- Fewer cases of Streptococcus bacteraemia and coagulase-negative Staphylococcus bacteraemia were observed in April-May 2020.
- The incidence of Streptococcus pneumoniae bacteraemia decreased from 12.0% (2017-2019) to 5% in April-May 2020.
- Bacteraemia caused by oropharyngeal organisms significantly reduced during the social distancing period.
Conclusions:
- Social distancing restrictions correlated with lower incidences of streptococcal bacteraemia and infections from respiratory organisms.
- Implementing social distancing measures may reduce bacteraemia morbidity caused by oropharyngeal and respiratory bacteria.
Background:
Social distancing was the predominant strategy used to mitigate the spread of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Aims:
To study the impact of social distancing on the incidence of bacteraemia. The number of admitted patients with positive blood cultures in April-May 2020 in one tertiary medical centre was compared with the number during the same period in the previous 3 years (April-May 2017-2019).
Methods:
Retrospective review of all positive blood cultures from January to July in the years 2017-2020.
Results:
There were fewer cases of Streptococcus bacteraemia as well as coagulase-negative Staphylococcus bacteraemia and other possible contaminated blood cultures in April-May 2020. Compared with the previous 3 years, the incidence of Streptococcus pneumoniae bacteraemia among all bacteraemias was lower in April-May 2020 (5%) than in 2017-2019 (12.0%; 95% confidence interval 10.3-14.1%). In general, fewer cases of bacteraemia caused by oropharynx organisms were observed in April-May 2020; only 6 cases versus 31 (95% confidence interval 10-53) during the same period in 2017-2019. Only one case of S. pneumoniae bacteraemia was observed in April-May 2020 and its percentage among all bacteraemias was lower in April-May 2020 (0.4%) than during the same period in 2017-2019 (3.3%).
Conclusion:
The incidences of streptococcal bacteraemia and bacteraemia of organisms transmitted through respiratory secretions were lower when there were social distancing restrictions. Adopting measures of social distancing may decrease the morbidity from bacteraemia caused by oropharynx and respiratory bacteria.
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