Walker Mark David, Sulyok Mihály
Department of the Natural and Built Environment, Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, UK.
Department of Pathology, Institute of Pathology and Neuropathology, Eberhard Karls University, Tübingen, Germany.
Pediatr Dermatol. 2023 Jan;40(1):96-99. doi: 10.1111/pde.15129. Epub 2022 Sep 3.
Wide-ranging restrictions on social and educational activities were imposed in 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. These likely influenced the population dynamics of the head louse. Close physical contact between human hosts is required for transmission of this ectoparasite.
Pre- and post-pandemic internet interest in the head louse in the UK was compared using Google Trends data from March 2017 to March 2022 and modeling using the Meta Prophet package. The influence of school holidays and school attendance was also investigated.
There was a sharp decline in internet searching of the term "head louse" from March 2020 onwards coinciding with COVID-19 restrictions, and a large difference between pre- and post-pandemic search volumes. No influence of school holidays or attendance on internet searching on the head louse was found.
The results suggest pandemic restrictions have had a large effect on head louse incidence.
2020年，为应对新冠疫情，社会和教育活动受到广泛限制。这些限制可能影响了头虱的种群动态。这种体外寄生虫的传播需要人类宿主之间的密切身体接触。
利用2017年3月至2022年3月的谷歌趋势数据，并使用Meta Prophet软件包进行建模，比较了英国疫情前后互联网上对头虱的关注度。还调查了学校假期和上学出勤率的影响。
从2020年3月起，与新冠疫情限制措施同时出现的是，“头虱”一词的互联网搜索量急剧下降，疫情前后的搜索量存在很大差异。未发现学校假期或出勤率对互联网上头虱搜索有影响。
结果表明，疫情限制对头虱发病率有很大影响。
