Impact of non-pharmaceutical interventions during the COVID-19 pandemic on pathogens transmitted via food in the Netherlands.
Pijnacker, Roan Mughini-Gras, Lapo Verhoef, Linda van den Beld, Maaike Franz, Eelco Friesema, Ingrid
Pijnacker, Roan
Mughini-Gras, Lapo
Verhoef, Linda
van den Beld, Maaike
Franz, Eelco
Friesema, Ingrid
Series / Report no.
Open Access
Type
Article
Language
en
Date of publication
2024-10-22
Year of publication
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
Title
Impact of non-pharmaceutical interventions during the COVID-19 pandemic on pathogens transmitted via food in the Netherlands.
Translated Title
Published in
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic impacted the transmission of many pathogens. The aim was to determine the effect of non-pharmaceutical interventions on the incidence of diseases transmitted via food. Weekly incidence rates for nine foodborne pathogens were collected from national surveillance registries. Weekly pathogen incidence during lockdown weeks of 2020 and 2021 were compared with corresponding weeks in 2015-2019. The same analyses were performed to determine the effect of self-defined expected impact levels of measures (low, intermediate and high). Eight out of 9 diseases showed a significant decrease in case number in 2020, except for listeriosis, which remained unchanged. The largest decrease was observed for rotavirus gastronteritis A (-81%), norovirus gastroenteritis (-78%), hepatitis A (-75%) and shigellosis (-72). In 2021, lower case numbers were observed for 6 out of 9 diseases compared with 2015-2019, with the largest decrease for shigellosis (-5/%) and hepatitis E (-47%). No significant change was observed for listeriosis, STEC infection and rotavirus gastroenteritis. Overall, measures with increased expected impact level did not result in a larger decrease in number of cases, except for Campylobacter, and norovirus and rotavirus gastroenteritis. Disease transmitted via food significantly decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic, with a more pronounced effect during 2020 than 2021.