Acute intestinal infections in children during the pre-pandemic period and during the COVID-19 pandemic period in Yakutsk

Humanity has faced an infection caused by a new strain of human coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. The infection is characterized by a variety of clinical symptoms with damage not only to the respiratory tract, but also to other organs and systems. Against the background of the pandemic of a new coronavirus infection, the widespread introduction of anti-epidemic measures has led to a change in the situation with other infectious diseases. The purpose of this work was to analyze the incidence of acute intestinal infections among children in the city of Yakutsk. Acute intestinal infections (AII) refer to diseases that are transmitted by the alimentary route. In the Russian Federation, from the very beginning of the epidemic manifestations of COVID-19, a course has been taken to implement the “advanced response” strategy, in accordance with which all anti-epidemic measures have been and are being carried out. The restrictive measures introduced as part of the fight against the spread of COVID-19 have had a beneficial effect on the epidemiological situation with many other infections. Many countries have implemented social distancing as a measure to “flatten the curve” of the ongoing epidemic. The results obtained by us coincide with the data obtained in other regions during similar studies. The decrease in the number of cases of most infectious diseases is a fact common to countries where anti-epidemic measures have been taken. We analyzed data on hospitalized patients with AII in the Children’s Clinical Infectious Diseases Hospital in Yakutsk for 2018, 2019, and 2020. We identified some features of the dynamics of the incidence of acute intestinal infections in children in the pre-pandemic period and in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. The introduction of anti-epidemic measures against the background of a new coronavirus infection led to a significant decrease in the incidence of infectious diseases in general and to a significant decrease in the number of acute intestinal infections in children.

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