Publication date: Jul 30, 2025
The impact of COVID-19-related nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPI) on the bacterial composition of upper airway infections remains largely unexplored. We aimed to investigate the incidence and microbiology of peritonsillar abscess (PTA) following the cessation of NPI and to compare these findings with the periods before and during NPI implementation. We performed a cross-sectional analysis of all PTA cases and their microbiological findings from 12 March, 2018 to 11 March, 2024, among patients admitted to the Ear-Nose-Throat Department, Aarhus University Hospital. Patients were categorised into three two-year periods in relation to NPI. Age-stratified population data for the catchment area were sourced from Statistics Denmark. A total of 1,030 patients were included. The annual incidence rate of PTA was significantly higher post-NPI (26. 9 cases/100,000) compared to both the NPI period (14. 9 cases/100,000, p
| Concepts | Keywords |
|---|---|
| Covid | COVID-19; |
| Denmark | Fusobacterium necrophorum |
| Microbiology | microbiology |
| Pandemic | nonpharmaceutical interventions |
| Peritonsillar abscess | |
| Streptococcus pyogenes |
Semantics
| Type | Source | Name |
|---|---|---|
| disease | MESH | peritonsillar abscess |
| disease | MESH | COVID-19 |
| disease | MESH | infections |