Plunge in respiratory viruses, outpatient antibiotics during pandemicRespiratory virus detections and ambulatory antibiotic prescribing rates for respiratory tract infections (RTIs) fell dramatically during the pandemic compared with previous years, a finding that could have implications for future antibiotic stewardship and public health strategies, researchers from the University of Wisconsin reported today in JAMA Internal Medicine.
Using surveillance data from the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene and antibiotic prescribing data from University of Wisconsin Health, the researchers compared the pre–COVID-19 pandemic period (July 2018 to February 2020) to a period covering several waves of COVID-19 activity (April 2020 to February