Table 1.
Community-onset bacteremia of selected pathogens and notifications of scarlet fever, tuberculosis, and chickenpox before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong a.
| From 2012 to 2019 (Period 1) |
From 2020 to 2021 (Period 2) |
p Value | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Streptococcus pyogenes | |||
| Total number of blood cultures | 587 | 51 | |
| Mean (range) blood cultures per year | 73 (41–117) | 26 (21–30) | <0.001 |
| Per 100,000 patient admissions | 4.31 | 1.50 | <0.001 |
| Per 10,000 blood culture requests | 2.89 | 0.95 | <0.001 |
| Streptococcus pneumoniae | |||
| Total number of blood cultures | 1226 | 52 | |
| Mean (range) blood cultures per year | 153 (130–187) | 26 (28–24) | <0.001 |
| Per 100,000 patient admissions | 8.99 | 1.53 | <0.001 |
| Per 10,000 blood culture requests | 6.04 | 0.96 | <0.001 |
| Haemophilus influenzae | |||
| Total number of blood cultures | 211 | 11 | |
| Mean (range) blood culture per year | 26 (20–32) | 6 (1–10) | 0.007 |
| Per 100,000 patient admissions | 1.55 | 0.32 | 0.012 |
| Per 10,000 blood culture requests | 1.04 | 0.20 | 0.006 |
| Neisseria meningitidis | |||
| Total number of blood cultures | 33 | 1 | |
| Mean (range) blood cultures per year | 4 (1–7) | 1 (0–1) | 0.004 |
| Per 100,000 patient admissions | 0.24 | 0.03 | 0.002 |
| Per 10,000 blood culture requests | 0.16 | 0.02 | 0.002 |
| Methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus | |||
| Total number of blood cultures | 5451 | 1508 | |
| Mean (range) blood cultures per year | 681 (578–744) | 754 (719–789) | 0.020 |
| Per 100,000 patient admissions | 39.98 | 44.29 | 0.197 |
| Per 10,000 blood culture requests | 26.84 | 27.98 | 0.432 |
| Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus | |||
| Total number of blood cultures | 3784 | 1067 | |
| Mean (range) blood cultures per year | 473 (396–552) | 543 (515–552) | 0.009 |
| Per 100,000 patient admissions | 27.76 | 31.34 | <0.001 |
| Per 10,000 blood culture requests | 18.63 | 19.80 | 0.024 |
| Escherichia coli | |||
| Total number of blood cultures | 45,645 | 12,296 | |
| Mean (range) blood cultures per year | 5706 (4681–6428) |
6148 (6076–6220) |
0.070 |
| Per 100,000 patient admissions | 334.80 | 361.10 | 0.176 |
| Per 10,000 blood culture requests | 224.70 | 228.10 | 0.516 |
| Notifications of | |||
| Scarlet fever | |||
| Total number of notifications | 12,567 | 351 | |
| Mean (range) of notifications per year | 1571 | 176 | <0.001 |
| Per 100,000 inhabitants | 21.47 | 2.36 | <0.001 |
| Tuberculosis | |||
| Total number of notifications | 35,512 | 7397 | |
| Mean (range) of notifications per year | 4439 (4003–4858) |
3699 (3656–3741) |
<0.001 |
| Per 100,000 inhabitants | 60.66 | 49.66 | <0.001 |
| Chickenpox | |||
| Total number of notifications | 68,776 | 3577 | |
| Mean (range) of notifications per year | 8597 (6898–10,926) |
1789 (1590–1987) |
<0.001 |
| Per 100,000 inhabitants | 117.49 | 24.02 | <0.001 |
a Blood culture collected ≤ 2 days after hospital admission.