The Impact of COVID-19 Interventions on Influenza and Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Infection

A series of public health interventions have been implemented to prevent the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in China. However, the effect of non-pharmaceutical interventions to COVID-19 on the incidence of the influenza virus and Mycobacterium tuberculosis infections is not clear. In current study, we analyzed surveillance data on influenza and Mycobacterium tuberculosis from Henan Provincial People’s Hospital in Zhengzhou, Henan province, China from 2019 to 2020. The monthly positive test rate for influenza and Mycobacterium tuberculosis to estimate transmissibility changes was calculated. The positive detection rate of influenza A declined significantly during the implementation of inventions in 2020, from a total positive rate of 17.69% in 2019 to 5.77% in 2020. Similarly, a 2.15% reduction in positive detective rate was seen for influenza B, from a total positive rate of 5.15% in 2019 to 3% in 2020. The positive rate curve of Mycobacterium tuberculosis measured by x-pert in 2020 remained above the curve in 2019 from March to June, and August, showing the rising trend under these precautions. Our study suggests that non-pharmaceutical public health interventions likely reduced influenza transmission significantly and have less effect on Mycobacterium tuberculosis transmission in 2020.