Impact of the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic on the Prevalence and Incidence of Enteric Protozoa in a Spanish Tertiary-Care Hospital and a Referral Center for Tropical Diseases, 2019–2023

Abstract

Objetive: The aim of this study was to describe the impact of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) against SARS-CoV-2 in patients with symptoms of enteric protozoa (EP), including Blastocystis spp., Dientamoeba fragilis, Giardia lamblia, Cryptosporidium spp., Entamoeba histolytica, and Cyclospora cayetanensis, in the overall population and in patients who were consulted at a National Referral Center for Imported Tropical Diseases (NRCITD patients) from a healthcare area in Madrid (Spain). Method: Data on patients with positive RT-PCR results for EP were collected. The periods analyzed were prepandemic (P0, 1 April 2019–31 March 2020), and the first (P1, 1 April 2020–31 March 2021), second (P2, 1 April 2021–31 March 2022), and third (P3, 1 April 2022–31 March 2023) pandemic years. We compared the prevalence, median age, absolute incidence (EP per 100,000 population of each period), and patient profile (NRCITD vs. non-NRCITD) during the study periods using Fisher’s test (p p p Blastocystis spp. and D. fragilis showed a lower decrease in prevalence during P1 (p > 0.05) due to the higher detection of colonized patients during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. However, G. lamblia and Cryptosporidium spp. showed the highest decrease in prevalence and absolute incidence during P2 (p Blastocystis spp. than the non-NTRCID patients during every period studied (p E. histolytica and C. cayetanensis showed a homogeneous trend.

Keywords

• parasite
• protozoa
• gastroenteritis
• <i>Blastocystis</i>
• <i>Dientamoeba fragilis</i>
• <i>Cryptosporidium</i>