The research study uses a special window into the biology of gastrointestinal pathogens, raising some new research study concerns, said Banaei. Enhanced understanding of these phenomena could lead to methods to disrupt pathogens spread, especially in low- to middle-income countries where gastroenteritis stays a significant cause of disease and death, specifically among kids. “It might likewise help us prepare for future unexpected pandemics.”
After U.S. stay-at-home orders throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, gastrointestinal infections like norovirus and adenovirus almost disappeared from California for almost 2 years, just to rise back in late 2022. The research recommends this resurgence is due to decreased community resistance from the lack of infection exposure throughout the pandemic.
After the initial U.S. stay-at-home instructions to neutralize the spread of COVID-19, intestinal viruses like norovirus, rotavirus,, and adenovirus essentially disappeared from Californian communities, preserving a minimal existence for near 2 years. The research is published in the Journal of Clinical Microbiology, a journal of the American Society for Microbiology.
Remarkably, these infections surged back to pre-pandemic levels in late 2022, stated Niaz Banaei, M.D., professor of Pathology and Medicine (Infectious Diseases), Stanford University, and Medical Director of Clinical Microbiology Laboratory, Stanford Health Care. “Adenovirus F40/41, the adenovirus strains most frequently associated with gastroenteritis, in fact jumped to levels two-fold higher than pre-pandemic levels.”
Banaei presumes that the rise in viral infections was enabled by the subsiding of collective community resistance from lack of direct exposure during the pandemic. “Something similar has been explained for the rise in breathing syncytial virus infections in 2022,” he said.
To determine changes in the occurrence of intestinal pathogens, the investigators compared detection rates for community-acquired intestinal pathogens before, during, and after Californias COVID-related shelter-in-place. To that end, they used a polymerase domino effect (PCR) panel test called the BioFire FilmArray GI panel, which evaluates for 22 of the most common pathogens that trigger diarrhea and examined about 18,000 tests that were drawn from January 2018 to December 2022.
The inspiration for the research was the change in the rate of positives for specific pathogens throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, said Banaei. “It immediately ended up being clear that the pandemic lockdown and shelter-in-place had produced a natural experiment to examine the transmission characteristics of pathogens triggering gastroenteritis.”
The research offers a special window into the biology of intestinal pathogens, raising some new research concerns, stated Banaei. “Why did some vanish while others continued unaffected during lockdown? Why are some now rising to levels we havent seen before?” Improved understanding of these phenomena might cause ways to interrupt pathogens spread, particularly in low- to middle-income countries where gastroenteritis remains a major reason for illness and death, specifically amongst children. “It may also help us prepare for future unexpected pandemics.”
Reference: “Postpandemic Effects of COVID-19 Shelter-in-Place Orders on the Gastrointestinal Pathogen Landscape” by Philip L. Bulterys, Nicole Y. Leung, Atif Saleem, Indre Budvytiene, Benjamin A. Pinsky and Niaz Banaei, 19 July 2023, Journal of Clinical Microbiology.DOI: 10.1128/ jcm.00385-23.