Effect of Nonpharmaceutical Interventions in Preventing COVID-19 on the Circulation of Avian Influenza Virus in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China

TL;DR

This study examines how nonpharmaceutical interventions used during the COVID-19 pandemic affected the spread of avian influenza virus in Wuhan, China.

Contribution

The study provides new insights into how NPIs for COVID-19 also impacted AIV circulation in environmental settings.

Findings

The positive rate of avian influenza virus decreased significantly after the implementation of nonpharmaceutical interventions.

H9 was the dominant subtype of AIV, and higher positive rates were found in chopping boards, sewage, and cages.

Positive rates of AIV were higher in trafficked bird sources compared to autotrophic sources.

Abstract

In late 2019, several medical institutions in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, reported cases of unexplained pneumonia. A novel coronavirus was isolated from human airway epithelial cells causing coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19). In recent years, many nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) have been implemented to stop COVID-19 epidemic. This study aimed to explore the effect of NPIs on the circulation of avian influenza virus (AIV) in Wuhan.

External environmental samples were collected and subjected to viral RNA extraction. Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction was used to detect the H5, H7, and H9 subtypes of AIV. Statistical analyses were performed using the chi-square test and binary logistic regression in SPSS 20.0 software.

A total of 2,451 external environmental samples were collected from seven districts from 2018 to 2022 in Wuhan, comprising 1,041 samples collected before COVID-19 and 1,410 samples after COVID-19. After COVID-19, the positive rate of AIV decreased significantly with the implementation of NPIs. The dominant subtype was the H9 subtype, followed by the H5 subtype. The positive rates of AIV in live poultry markets and poultry free-range sites were reduced significantly through the implementation of NPIs. Among the different sample types, higher positive rates of AIV were found in chopping boards, sewage, and cages. The positive rate of AIV was higher in trafficked source samples than that in autotrophic source samples.

This study identified the characteristics of AIV in terms of different districts, surveillance sites, sample types, and bird sources in Wuhan. This study conducted a multifactorial analysis of the factors affecting AIV infection and provided a theoretical basis and guidance for the future prevention and control of AIV in Wuhan.

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