Comparing public knowledge around value of hand and respiratory hygiene, vaccination, and pre- and post-national COVID-19 lockdown in England

Read, Brieze; McNulty, Cliodna; Verlander, Neville Q.; Moss, N. E. G.; Lecky, Donna M.

doi:10.1016/j.puhe.2022.08.015

Cited by 8 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…Similar with other studies, TB cases were reported had a significant decline, especially in 2020 [8][9][10]. These may be attributed to numerous reasons, such as a shifting focus of the healthcare facilities from managing TB to preventing COVID-19 [31,32], patient faced barriers on accessing healthcare facility due to COVID-19 preventive measures [33,34] as well as changing on the healthcare-seeking behaviour among TB patients during the COVID-19 pandemic [35,36].…”

Section: Descriptive Statisticssupporting

confidence: 69%

Spatial patterns of tuberculosis in Aceh Province during the COVID-19 pandemic: a geospatial autocorrelation assessment

Saputra,

Sofyan,

Kesuma

et al. 2024

IOP Conf. Ser.: Earth Environ. Sci.

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Tuberculosis remains a significant global health challenge, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. In Aceh Province, where tuberculosis incidence has reached alarming levels, understanding the spatial distribution of cases is crucial for effective interventions. This study aimed to assess the spatial autocorrelation of tuberculosis incidence during the COVID-19 pandemic in 23 districts of Aceh Province, Indonesia. Using an ecological study, we analysed secondary data of the reported tuberculosis cases in Aceh Province covering 2020 to 2022. We use the Shapiro-Wilk test to evaluate the normality and the Kruskal-Wallis test to compare the differences between study periods. Spatial autocorrelation was evaluated at both global and local levels using Moran’s I and Getis-Ord statistics, respectively. The study included 24,715 tuberculosis cases, revealing that the district with the highest incidence differed in each year. The study showed that TB case in Aceh Province was not normally distributed yet different for each study period. Surprisingly, the global spatial autocorrelation was detected only in 2022 (p-value = 0.013). However, local spatial autocorrelation identified Pidie Jaya, Lhokseumawe, Aceh Utara and Bener Meriah as statistically significant hot-spots for 3 consecutive years. It suggests that the tuberculosis incidence in most districts did not significantly influence the incidence of tuberculosis in its neighbours. These findings contribute to our understanding of tuberculosis distribution and offer valuable insights for public health planning and resource allocation.

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Section: Descriptive Statisticssupporting

confidence: 69%

Spatial patterns of tuberculosis in Aceh Province during the COVID-19 pandemic: a geospatial autocorrelation assessment

Saputra,

Sofyan,

Kesuma

et al. 2024

IOP Conf. Ser.: Earth Environ. Sci.

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“…Backed by the World Health Organization and most health authorities, hand hygiene has played a prominent role in COVID-19 preventive strategies. Dispensers with hand sanitizers have been placed in most public spaces, and numerous campaigns have been promoted to emphasize the importance of their use to prevent the spread of SARS-CoV-2 [ 29 , 30 , 31 ]. Regular handwashing with soap or disinfectant gels containing alcohol has been a widespread practice among health workers and the general population, especially since the early days of the pandemic [ 30 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of Long-Term Use of Alcohol-Containing Handwashing Gels on the Biofilm-Forming Capacity of Staphylococcus epidermidis

López-Gigosos

Mariscal-Lopez

Gutiérrez‐Bedmar

et al. 2023

IJERPH

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The spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has promoted the use of hand sanitizers among the general population as recommended by health authorities. Alcohols, which are used in many hand sanitizers, have been shown to promotes the formation of biofilms by certain bacteria and to increase bacterial resistance to disinfection. We investigated the effect of continued use of alcohol-based gel hand sanitizer on biofilm formation by the Staphylococcus epidermidis resident strain isolated from the hands of health science students. Hand microbes were counted before and after handwashing, and the ability to produce biofilms was investigated. We found that 179 (84.8%) strains of S. epidermidis isolated from hands had the ability to form biofilm (biofilm-positive strains) in an alcohol-free culture medium. Furthermore, the presence of alcohol in the culture medium induced biofilm formation in 13 (40.6%) of the biofilm-negative strains and increased biofilm production in 111 (76.6%) strains, which were classified as low-grade biofilm-producing. Based on our findings, there is no clear evidence that the continued use of alcohol-based gels results in the selection of strains with the capacity to form biofilms. However, other disinfectant formulations that are more commonly used in clinical settings, such as alcohol-based hand-rub solutions, should be tested for their long-term effects.

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“…These trends in antibiotic prescribing may largely be explained by reduced incidence of seasonal respiratory tract infections and reduced primary care consultations (Andrews et al, 2022; Homeniuk and Collins, 2021). On the other hand, the advent of telemedicine, pandemic-induced patient stress, and increased antibiotic demand may have partly offset prescription reductions due to decreased consultations and healthcare-seeking behavior (Hsu, 2020; Read et al, 2023). In a global analysis of antimicrobial sales, Khouja et al found that antibiotic consumption initially increased by approximately 7% in March 2020, prior to subsequent declines through to August 2020 (Khouja et al, 2022).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Containment measures also massively reduced circulation of common respiratory viruses, which are known to be associated with invasive bacterial disease (Domenech De Cellès et al, 2019;Smith and Opatowski, 2021). Second, the lockdown was associated with reductions in primary care consultations (Homeniuk and Collins, 2021;Read et al, 2023;Zhang et al, 2021) leading to a global decrease of antibiotic prescriptions (Högberg et al, 2021). In contrast, frequent antibiotic prescribing to COVID-19 outpatients may have exacerbated AMR (Clancy et al, 2020;Knight et al, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Revealing the drivers of antibiotic resistance trends inStreptococcus pneumoniaeamidst the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic: Insights from mathematical modeling

Kovacevic

Smith

Rahbé

et al. 2022

Preprint

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COVID-19 pandemic responses have dramatically modified the global ecological and epidemiological landscape of many infectious diseases. However, the pandemic’s impacts on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) are currently poorly understood and lack data. While surges in COVID-19 cases during the first wave of the pandemic may have exacerbated AMR, decreases in antibiotic use may have had the opposite effect. To disentangle how pandemic impacts such as lockdowns and modified antibiotic prescribing may affect AMR, we developed a mathematical model formalizing simultaneous transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and colonization with a bacterial pathogen across six pandemic scenarios. We used simulation to assess the effect of each scenario on the bacterial carriage prevalence, antibiotic resistance rate, and the invasive bacterial disease (IBD) incidence, using parameters based on the commensal community bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae. Pandemic scenarios without community-wide lockdowns all resulted in a decrease in carriage prevalence of antibiotic-sensitive bacteria and an increase in the prevalence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, while the addition of a population-wide lockdown resulted in a large reduction in colonization prevalence and IBD incidence for both strains (>70%). This translated to an increase in the antibiotic resistance rate across all scenarios to varying degrees, with lingering effects after the cessation of COVID-19 response measures. In the absence of lockdown, a population-wide surge in antibiotic prescribing coincident with the peak in SARS-CoV-2 infection resulted in the greatest increases in resistance rate (23%) and resistant IBD incidence (6%). Within-host interactions, SARS-CoV-2 variants, and population immunity are found to further drive the magnitude of pandemic impacts on resistant IBD incidence. Sensitivity analyses suggest that the extent of such impacts likely varies across different bacterial species. Although real-life scenarios are significantly more complicated, our findings suggest that COVID-19 pandemic responses may significantly impact antibiotic resistance in the community and support the need for monitoring resistance during pandemic waves.

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Comparing public knowledge around value of hand and respiratory hygiene, vaccination, and pre- and post-national COVID-19 lockdown in England

Cited by 8 publications

References 14 publications

Spatial patterns of tuberculosis in Aceh Province during the COVID-19 pandemic: a geospatial autocorrelation assessment

Spatial patterns of tuberculosis in Aceh Province during the COVID-19 pandemic: a geospatial autocorrelation assessment

Effect of Long-Term Use of Alcohol-Containing Handwashing Gels on the Biofilm-Forming Capacity of Staphylococcus epidermidis

Revealing the drivers of antibiotic resistance trends inStreptococcus pneumoniaeamidst the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic: Insights from mathematical modeling

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