Shrestha Smriti, Jha Priya, Shrestha Lilee, Chaudhary Lok Bandhu, Mulmi Rashmi, Govindakarnavar Arunkumar, Jha Runa
Department of National Influenza Center, National Public Health Laboratory, Kathmandu, Nepal.
WHO Health Emergencies Programme, World Health Organization Country Office for Nepal, Lalitpur, Nepal.
PLoS One. 2025 Apr 29;20(4):e0299610. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0299610. eCollection 2025.
A significant reduction in influenza incidence during the early days of COVID-19 pandemic was reported worldwide. This study aims to understand the impact of public health and social measures implemented during the COVID- 19 pandemic on influenza circulation in Nepal. We utilized influenza sentinel and non-sentinel surveillance data from Nepal between 2018 and 2022, obtained from the National Influenza Centre (NIC) at National Public Health Laboratory (NPHL), Nepal. Additionally, we used publicly available national COVID-19 case data released by the Ministry of Health and Population of Nepal. The data were analyzed for the trends in influenza cases, positivity rate and the distribution of subtypes/lineages. Furthermore, we compared the trend of influenza with that of COVID-19 and the social and public health measures implemented in the country as part of the COVID-19 response. The average influenza positivity rate dropped significantly from 39% to 14% during the COVID-19 period compared to the pre- COVID-19. Additionally, during the time of COVID 19 there has been a shift in the influenza bimodal seasonal pattern, with only one peak observed. Influenza type A consistently dominated, with variations in its subtype observed from year to year. Notably, one case of Influenza A/H5N1 was reported in 2019. This study shows that the influenza positivity rate decreased substantially after the COVID-19 pandemic began, possibly due to the stringent public health and social measures implemented during the pandemic. Adaptation of the influenza surveillance system during pandemics and integration of other respiratory pathogens into it not only allows continuity of surveillance but also helps to evaluate the public health and social measures implemented to manage future respiratory virus pandemics.
全球范围内均报告称，在新冠疫情初期流感发病率显著下降。本研究旨在了解新冠疫情期间实施的公共卫生和社会措施对尼泊尔流感传播的影响。我们利用了2018年至2022年期间尼泊尔的流感哨点和非哨点监测数据，这些数据来自尼泊尔国家公共卫生实验室的国家流感中心。此外，我们还使用了尼泊尔卫生与人口部公布的公开可用的全国新冠病例数据。对这些数据进行了分析，以了解流感病例的趋势、阳性率以及亚型/谱系的分布情况。此外，我们还将流感趋势与新冠趋势以及该国作为新冠应对措施一部分实施的社会和公共卫生措施进行了比较。与新冠疫情之前相比，新冠疫情期间流感平均阳性率从39%大幅降至14%。此外，在新冠疫情期间，流感双峰季节性模式发生了变化，仅观察到一个峰值。甲型流感一直占据主导地位，其亚型每年都有变化。值得注意的是，2019年报告了一例甲型H5N1流感病例。本研究表明，新冠疫情开始后流感阳性率大幅下降，这可能是由于疫情期间实施了严格的公共卫生和社会措施。在大流行期间调整流感监测系统并将其他呼吸道病原体纳入其中，不仅能保证监测的连续性，还有助于评估为应对未来呼吸道病毒大流行而实施的公共卫生和社会措施。
