Decreased Legionnaires’ disease incidence in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020-2022

Authors

  • Devarajulu Reddy ICMR-NIE-FETP
  • Diviya Alex ICMR-NIE-FETP
  • Christina Zonunmawii ICMR-NIE-FETP
  • Sabarish Prabhu
  • D.N. Dhiliban ICMR-NIE-FETP

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.31646/gbio.201

Abstract

Legionnaires’ disease was first detected in 1976 when an outbreak occurred in Philadelphia, USA. The number of cases reported to the Centre for Disease Control (CDC) has been on the rise since 2000, likely due to expanded diagnostic testing and public awareness of symptoms. There was a notable decline of confirmed cases during the first years of the COVID-19 pandemic. Surveillance is important to understand the transmission, pathogenesis, and complications, and to quickly identify the outbreaks, new cases and epidemiologic links between cases. The EPIWATCH system scans vast amounts of open-source data to supplement surveillance when there is a lack of available case data. EPIWATCH reported approximately 28 cases during September to December 2020, 349 cases in 2021 and 114 cases during January to October 2022, which is a decrease in case numbers, possibly due to underreporting during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Annual case numbers may be 1.8 to 2.7 times higher than reported, due to potential underdiagnosis and the requirement for confirmation of infection source before a diagnosis can be made.

Key words: Legionella; Legionnaires' disease; outbreak, USA

 

 

 

 

 

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Published

2023-09-11

How to Cite

Reddy, D., Alex, D., Zonunmawii, C., Prabhu, S., & Dhiliban, D. (2023). Decreased Legionnaires’ disease incidence in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020-2022. Global Biosecurity, 5(1). https://doi.org/10.31646/gbio.201

Issue

Vol. 5 (2023)

Section

Watching Briefs

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Copyright (c) 2023 The Author(s)

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Received 2023-02-16
Accepted 2023-03-31
Published 2023-09-11