key: cord-0974005-dqqv7qcu
authors: Luciani, Léa; Ninove, Laetitia; Zandotti, Christine; Nougairède, Antoine
title: COVID‐19 pandemic and its consequences disrupt epidemiology of enterovirus meningitis, South–East France
date: 2021-01-22
journal: J Med Virol
DOI: 10.1002/jmv.26785
sha: 2b953419c7923b7aba7a06602d3aba505c7d67d6
doc_id: 974005
cord_uid: dqqv7qcu

nan

To the Editor, In northern hemisphere, enteroviral infections predominate during summer. 1 Most enterovirus meningitis affect children and are self- Altogether, our data show that the COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences have disrupted the epidemiology of enteroviral meningitis. Enteroviruses are excreted in the respiratory and digestive tracts and can be transmitted from person to person by direct or indirect contact. [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] It is difficult to establish a direct causal link but we assume that the lockdown followed by a large increase of the proportion of out-of-school children may have drastically reduced the circulation of enteroviruses. We also speculate that the continuous promotion of hygiene and social distancing measures may have played a role. Other studies showed that this pandemic affected publication.

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

According to national regulations, specific consent from patients was not required for inclusion in the study and publication of the results 

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