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Impact of COVID-19 Mitigation Measures on Mosquito-Borne Diseases in 2020 in Queensland, Australia

We describe the impact of COVID-19 mitigation measures on mosquito-borne diseases in Queensland, Australia, during the first half of 2020. Implementation of restrictions coincided with an atypical late season outbreak of Ross River virus (RRV) characterized by a peak in notifications in April (1173)...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Jansen, Cassie C., Darbro, Jonathan M., Birrell, Frances A., Shivas, Martin A., van den Hurk, Andrew F.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8235246/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34208620
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/v13061150
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author Jansen, Cassie C.
Darbro, Jonathan M.
Birrell, Frances A.
Shivas, Martin A.
van den Hurk, Andrew F.
author_facet Jansen, Cassie C.
Darbro, Jonathan M.
Birrell, Frances A.
Shivas, Martin A.
van den Hurk, Andrew F.
author_sort Jansen, Cassie C.
collection PubMed
description We describe the impact of COVID-19 mitigation measures on mosquito-borne diseases in Queensland, Australia, during the first half of 2020. Implementation of restrictions coincided with an atypical late season outbreak of Ross River virus (RRV) characterized by a peak in notifications in April (1173) and May (955) which were greater than 3-fold the mean observed for the previous four years. We propose that limitations on human movement likely resulted in the majority of RRV infections being acquired at or near the place of residence, and that an increase in outdoor activities, such as gardening and bushwalking in the local household vicinity, increased risk of exposure to RRV-infected mosquitoes. In contrast, the precipitous decline in international passenger flights led to a reduction in the number of imported dengue and malaria cases of over 70% and 60%, respectively, compared with the previous five years. This substantial reduction in flights also reduced a risk pathway for importation of exotic mosquitoes, but the risk posed by importation via sea cargo was not affected. Overall, the emergence of COVID-19 has had a varied impact on mosquito-borne disease epidemiology in Queensland, but the need for mosquito surveillance and control, together with encouragement of personal protective measures, remains unchanged.
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spelling pubmed-82352462021-06-27 Impact of COVID-19 Mitigation Measures on Mosquito-Borne Diseases in 2020 in Queensland, Australia Jansen, Cassie C. Darbro, Jonathan M. Birrell, Frances A. Shivas, Martin A. van den Hurk, Andrew F. Viruses Communication We describe the impact of COVID-19 mitigation measures on mosquito-borne diseases in Queensland, Australia, during the first half of 2020. Implementation of restrictions coincided with an atypical late season outbreak of Ross River virus (RRV) characterized by a peak in notifications in April (1173) and May (955) which were greater than 3-fold the mean observed for the previous four years. We propose that limitations on human movement likely resulted in the majority of RRV infections being acquired at or near the place of residence, and that an increase in outdoor activities, such as gardening and bushwalking in the local household vicinity, increased risk of exposure to RRV-infected mosquitoes. In contrast, the precipitous decline in international passenger flights led to a reduction in the number of imported dengue and malaria cases of over 70% and 60%, respectively, compared with the previous five years. This substantial reduction in flights also reduced a risk pathway for importation of exotic mosquitoes, but the risk posed by importation via sea cargo was not affected. Overall, the emergence of COVID-19 has had a varied impact on mosquito-borne disease epidemiology in Queensland, but the need for mosquito surveillance and control, together with encouragement of personal protective measures, remains unchanged. MDPI 2021-06-16 /pmc/articles/PMC8235246/ /pubmed/34208620 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/v13061150 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Communication
Jansen, Cassie C.
Darbro, Jonathan M.
Birrell, Frances A.
Shivas, Martin A.
van den Hurk, Andrew F.
Impact of COVID-19 Mitigation Measures on Mosquito-Borne Diseases in 2020 in Queensland, Australia
title Impact of COVID-19 Mitigation Measures on Mosquito-Borne Diseases in 2020 in Queensland, Australia
title_full Impact of COVID-19 Mitigation Measures on Mosquito-Borne Diseases in 2020 in Queensland, Australia
title_fullStr Impact of COVID-19 Mitigation Measures on Mosquito-Borne Diseases in 2020 in Queensland, Australia
title_full_unstemmed Impact of COVID-19 Mitigation Measures on Mosquito-Borne Diseases in 2020 in Queensland, Australia
title_short Impact of COVID-19 Mitigation Measures on Mosquito-Borne Diseases in 2020 in Queensland, Australia
title_sort impact of covid-19 mitigation measures on mosquito-borne diseases in 2020 in queensland, australia
topic Communication
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8235246/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34208620
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/v13061150
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