Abstract

TORANO PERAZA, Gilda Teresa; BARRETO NUNEZ, Brenda; PEREZ FARIAS, Yoima de la Caridad  and  ABREU CAPOTE, Miriam Esther. Reduction in invasive pneumococcal disease surveillance after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Cuba 2020. Rev Cubana Med Trop [online]. 2021, vol.73, n.3  Epub Dec 01, 2021. ISSN 1561-3054.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, surveillance systems for vaccine-preventable diseases should remain active. The purpose of the present communication is to warn about the weakening of invasive pneumococcal disease surveillance in Cuba during the year 2020. To achieve such an end, a retrospective analysis was conducted of the number of invasive pneumococcal disease cases confirmed at the Cuban National Reference Laboratory in the period 2014-2020. From 2014 to 2019 the number of Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates ranged between 81 and 121. In 2020 only 31 isolates were confirmed, 19 of which were retrieved from meningitis and a mere five from pneumonia. The health actions implemented to contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic may have influenced the decline in the number of isolated responsible for invasive pneumococcal disease. This situation seems to be a consequence of the weakening of surveillance, since COVID-19 diagnostic tests became a priority during 2020.

Keywords : pneumococcal disease incidence; bacterial coinfection; COVID-19.

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