{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,17]],"date-time":"2026-01-17T03:42:30Z","timestamp":1768621350224,"version":"3.49.0"},"reference-count":39,"publisher":"CSIRO Publishing","issue":"6","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,5,5]],"date-time":"2025-05-05T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1746403200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":181,"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1071\/journalslicense"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2024,12,23]]},"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>The protracted battle against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has had a profound impact on various facets of society. The epidemiology of several diseases underwent alterations following the implementation of social restrictive strategies and non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPI).<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>In response to these changes, we conducted a retrospective nationwide surveillance study to investigate the prevalence of sexually transmitted infections during the pandemic. Weekly incidences of gonorrhea, syphilis, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and enterovirus were extracted from the national surveillance database.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Over the period from 2015 to 2022, a sustained increase in gonorrhea notifications was evident (linear trend with a rising slope of 0.24 and an R-squared value of 0.62). When comparing the pre-pandemic period (2017\u20132019) with the pandemic period (2020\u20132022), a significant surge in gonorrhea notifications was observed (85 notifications per week pre-pandemic vs 143 notifications during the pandemic, representing a 68% increase, P\u00a0&amp;lt;\u00a00.01). Further interrupted time series analysis revealed a significant monthly increase of 3.79 gonorrhea notifications during the pandemic. Conversely, declines in syphilis, HIV, and enterovirus incidences were noted (186\u00a0vs 177, 41\u00a0vs 25, and 3906\u00a0vs 2863\u00a0weekly notifications for syphilis, HIV, and enterovirus, respectively). A literature review indicated conflicting epidemiological trends in different regions.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Our study highlights a significant rise in gonorrhea notifications during the pandemic. Despite disruptions to gonorrhea testing and medical services, and the implementation of NPI, there was no significant decrease in the incidence of gonorrhea in Taiwan. Gonorrhea emerged as a critical public health concern during the pandemic.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1071\/sh23188","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,11,6]],"date-time":"2024-11-06T20:45:12Z","timestamp":1730925912000},"source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Rising incidence of gonorrhea in Taiwan amid the COVID-19 pandemic: a nationwide surveillance study"],"prefix":"10.1071","volume":"21","author":[{"given":"Hsing-Yuan","family":"Chen","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"ADepartment of Pediatrics, Hsinchu MacKay Memorial Hospital, Hsinchu City, Taiwan."},{"name":"BDepartment of Pediatrics, Hsinchu Municipal MacKay Children\u2019s Hospital, Hsinchu City, Taiwan."}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Yi-Hsiang","family":"Sung","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"ADepartment of Pediatrics, Hsinchu MacKay Memorial Hospital, Hsinchu City, Taiwan."},{"name":"BDepartment of Pediatrics, Hsinchu Municipal MacKay Children\u2019s Hospital, Hsinchu City, Taiwan."}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4415-7811","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Chung-Chu","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"CDepartment of Internal Medicine, Hsinchu MacKay Memorial Hospital, Hsinchu City, Taiwan."},{"name":"DTeaching Center of Natural Science, Minghsin University of Science and Technology, Hsinchu County, Taiwan."}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Shun-Long","family":"Weng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"EDepartment of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Hsinchu MacKay Memorial Hospital, Hsinchu City, Taiwan."},{"name":"FDepartment of Medicine, MacKay Medical College, New Taipei City, Taiwan."}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Bo-Huang","family":"Liou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"CDepartment of Internal Medicine, Hsinchu MacKay Memorial Hospital, Hsinchu City, Taiwan."}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Chun-Yan","family":"Yeung","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"ADepartment of Pediatrics, Hsinchu MacKay Memorial Hospital, Hsinchu City, Taiwan."},{"name":"BDepartment of Pediatrics, Hsinchu Municipal MacKay Children\u2019s Hospital, Hsinchu City, Taiwan."}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Chi-Hone","family":"Lien","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"ADepartment of Pediatrics, Hsinchu MacKay Memorial Hospital, Hsinchu City, Taiwan."},{"name":"BDepartment of Pediatrics, Hsinchu Municipal MacKay Children\u2019s Hospital, Hsinchu City, Taiwan."}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Chao-Hsu","family":"Lin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"ADepartment of Pediatrics, Hsinchu MacKay Memorial Hospital, Hsinchu City, Taiwan."},{"name":"BDepartment of Pediatrics, Hsinchu Municipal MacKay Children\u2019s Hospital, Hsinchu City, Taiwan."},{"name":"FDepartment of Medicine, MacKay Medical College, New Taipei City, Taiwan."},{"name":"GDepartment of Biological Science and Technology, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu City, Taiwan."}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Hsin","family":"Chi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"FDepartment of Medicine, MacKay Medical College, New Taipei City, Taiwan."},{"name":"HDepartment of Pediatrics, MacKay Children\u2019s Hospital, Taipei City, Taiwan."}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Liang-Yen","family":"Lin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"IPei Ying Junior High School, Hsinchu City, Taiwan."}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Nan-Chang","family":"Chiu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"FDepartment of Medicine, MacKay Medical College, New Taipei City, Taiwan."},{"name":"HDepartment of Pediatrics, MacKay Children\u2019s Hospital, Taipei City, Taiwan."}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4630-8724","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Chien-Yu","family":"Lin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"ADepartment of Pediatrics, Hsinchu MacKay Memorial Hospital, Hsinchu City, Taiwan."},{"name":"BDepartment of Pediatrics, Hsinchu Municipal MacKay Children\u2019s Hospital, Hsinchu City, Taiwan."},{"name":"FDepartment of Medicine, MacKay Medical College, New Taipei City, Taiwan."}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"67","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,11,5]]},"reference":[{"key":"2025102419155076500_R1","unstructured":"Ritchie H, Mathieu E, Rod\u00e9s-Guirao L, Appel C, Giattino C, Ortiz-Ospina E, et al. Coronavirus Pandemic (COVID-19). 2020. Available at https:\/\/ourworldindata.org\/coronavirus [cited 8 August 2022]"},{"issue":"5","key":"2025102419155076500_R2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/21645515.2022.2071079","article-title":"The impact of COVID-19 on routine vaccinations in Taiwan and an unexpected surge of pneumococcal vaccination.","volume":"18","author":"Chiu","year":"2022","journal-title":"Hum Vaccin Immunother"},{"key":"2025102419155076500_R3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1211","DOI":"10.1080\/14760584.2021.1971522","article-title":"To mix or not to mix? A rapid systematic review of heterologous prime\u2013boost covid-19 vaccination.","volume":"20","author":"Chiu","year":"2021","journal-title":"Expert Rev Vaccines"},{"issue":"10","key":"2025102419155076500_R4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3390\/life13102094","article-title":"The effectiveness of bivalent COVID-19 vaccination: a preliminary report.","volume":"13","author":"Chen","year":"2023","journal-title":"Life"},{"key":"2025102419155076500_R5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3389\/fpubh.2020.547423","article-title":"Taiwan government-guided strategies contributed to combating and controlling COVID-19 pandemic.","volume":"8","author":"Chen","year":"2020","journal-title":"Front Public Health"},{"issue":"4","key":"2025102419155076500_R6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"614","DOI":"10.1080\/19317611.2022.2097357","article-title":"Differences in sexual health of Mexican Gay and bisexual youth and adults during the COVID-19 pandemic.","volume":"34","author":"Juan Carlos","year":"2022","journal-title":"Int J Sex Health"},{"issue":"6","key":"2025102419155076500_R7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"525","DOI":"10.1071\/SH22109","article-title":"Sustaining sexual and reproductive health through COVID-19 pandemic restrictions: qualitative interviews with Australian clinicians.","volume":"19","author":"Newman","year":"2022","journal-title":"Sex Health"},{"issue":"8","key":"2025102419155076500_R8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2196\/21257","article-title":"Impact of wearing masks, hand hygiene, and social distancing on influenza, enterovirus, and all-cause pneumonia during the coronavirus pandemic: retrospective national epidemiological surveillance study.","volume":"22","author":"Chiu","year":"2020","journal-title":"J Med Internet Res"},{"key":"2025102419155076500_R9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"260","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jpeds.2021.11.061","article-title":"European Pediatric societies call for an implementation of regular vaccination programs to contrast the immunity debt associated to coronavirus disease-2019 pandemic in children.","volume":"242","author":"Cohen","year":"2022","journal-title":"J Pediatr"},{"issue":"3","key":"2025102419155076500_R10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1814","DOI":"10.1002\/jmv.26614","article-title":"Impact of social distancing on incidence of vaccine-preventable diseases, South Korea.","volume":"93","author":"Yun","year":"2021","journal-title":"J Med Virol"},{"issue":"2","key":"2025102419155076500_R11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/jtm\/taae015","article-title":"Unprecedented dengue outbreak in Taiwan following COVID-19.","volume":"31","author":"Chiu","year":"2024","journal-title":"J Travel Med"},{"issue":"5","key":"2025102419155076500_R12","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"418","DOI":"10.1016\/j.idnow.2021.05.004","article-title":"Pediatric Infectious Disease Group (GPIP) position paper on the immune debt of the COVID-19 pandemic in childhood, how can we fill the immunity gap?","volume":"51","author":"Cohen","year":"2021","journal-title":"Infect Dis Now"},{"issue":"5","key":"2025102419155076500_R13","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"378","DOI":"10.1001\/jama.2023.26608","article-title":"From \u201cImmunity Debt\u201d to \u201cImmunity Theft\u201d \u2013 how COVID-19 might be tied to recent respiratory disease surges.","volume":"331","author":"Rubin","year":"2024","journal-title":"JAMA"},{"key":"2025102419155076500_R14","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.tmaid.2021.101997","article-title":"The impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 epidemic on notifiable infectious diseases in Taiwan: a database analysis.","volume":"40","author":"Lai","year":"2021","journal-title":"Travel Med Infect Dis"},{"issue":"2","key":"2025102419155076500_R15","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"127","DOI":"10.1071\/SH21231","article-title":"18 months on: an interrupted time series analysis investigating the effect of COVID-19 on chlamydia and gonorrhoea testing and test positivity at the Gold Coast, Australia.","volume":"19","author":"Thng","year":"2022","journal-title":"Sex Health"},{"issue":"6 Pt 1","key":"2025102419155076500_R16","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1101","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jmii.2021.09.017","article-title":"The epidemiological features of pediatric viral respiratory infection during the COVID-19 pandemic in Taiwan.","volume":"55","author":"Hsu","year":"2022","journal-title":"J Microbiol Immunol Infect"},{"issue":"2","key":"2025102419155076500_R17","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"92","DOI":"10.1071\/SH21235","article-title":"Sexual behaviour during COVID-19: a repeated cross-sectional survey in Victoria, Australia.","volume":"19","author":"Goller","year":"2022","journal-title":"Sex Health"},{"issue":"15","key":"2025102419155076500_R18","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3390\/ijerph19159627","article-title":"STIs during the COVID-19 pandemic in Hungary: gonorrhea as a potential indicator of sexual behavior.","volume":"19","author":"L\u0151rincz","year":"2022","journal-title":"Int J Environ Res Public Health"},{"issue":"1","key":"2025102419155076500_R19","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1136\/sextrans-2021-054965","article-title":"Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on STIs in Greece.","volume":"98","author":"Apalla","year":"2022","journal-title":"Sex Transm Infect"},{"issue":"2","key":"2025102419155076500_R20","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"150","DOI":"10.1136\/sextrans-2021-055021","article-title":"STIs during the first and second wave of COVID-19 in Denmark.","volume":"98","author":"Heerfordt","year":"2022","journal-title":"Sex Transm Infect"},{"issue":"9","key":"2025102419155076500_R21","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"623","DOI":"10.1080\/23744235.2022.2071461","article-title":"Changes in testing and incidence of Chlamydia trachomatis and Neisseria gonorrhoeae - the possible impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the three Scandinavian countries.","volume":"54","author":"Ivarsson","year":"2022","journal-title":"Infect Dis"},{"key":"2025102419155076500_R22","unstructured":"Taiwan Centers for Disease Control. Coronavirus disease 2019. 2022. Available at https:\/\/www.cdc.gov.tw\/En [cited 31 August 2022]"},{"key":"2025102419155076500_R23","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3389\/fpubh.2023.1148637","article-title":"To PCR or not? The impact of shifting policy from PCR to rapid antigen tests to diagnose COVID-19 during the omicron epidemic: a nationwide surveillance study.","volume":"11","author":"Chi","year":"2023","journal-title":"Front Public Health"},{"issue":"2","key":"2025102419155076500_R24","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"101","DOI":"10.1136\/sextrans-2020-054805","article-title":"Reporting of sexually transmitted infections during the COVID-19 pandemic.","volume":"97","author":"Crane","year":"2021","journal-title":"Sex Transm Infect"},{"issue":"2","key":"2025102419155076500_R25","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1136\/sextrans-2020-054608","article-title":"Trend of main STIs during COVID-19 pandemic in Milan, Italy.","volume":"97","author":"Cusini","year":"2021","journal-title":"Sex Transm Infect"},{"key":"2025102419155076500_R26","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"124","DOI":"10.1136\/sextrans-2021-055378","article-title":"Recent changes in the reporting of STIs in Japan during the COVID-19 pandemic.","volume":"99","author":"Ghaznavi","year":"2023","journal-title":"Sex Transm Infect"},{"issue":"10","key":"2025102419155076500_R27","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"798","DOI":"10.1097\/OLQ.0000000000001506","article-title":"Trends in nationally notifiable sexually transmitted disease case reports during the US COVID-19 Pandemic, January to December 2020.","volume":"48","author":"Pagaoa","year":"2021","journal-title":"Sex Transm Dis"},{"issue":"3","key":"2025102419155076500_R28","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"386","DOI":"10.1016\/j.amepre.2021.03.009","article-title":"Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on chlamydia and gonorrhea screening in the U.S.","volume":"61","author":"Pinto","year":"2021","journal-title":"Am J Prev Med"},{"issue":"8","key":"2025102419155076500_R29","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/jtm\/taaa180","article-title":"Travel restrictions and lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic-impact on notified infectious diseases in Switzerland.","volume":"27","author":"Steffen","year":"2020","journal-title":"J Travel Med"},{"issue":"8","key":"2025102419155076500_R30","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"622","DOI":"10.1136\/sextrans-2020-054943","article-title":"Gonorrhoea during COVID-19 in London, UK.","volume":"97","author":"Whitlock","year":"2021","journal-title":"Sex Transm Infect"},{"key":"2025102419155076500_R31","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3389\/fpubh.2021.737817","article-title":"The epidemic of sexually transmitted diseases under the influence of COVID-19 in China.","volume":"9","author":"Yan","year":"2021","journal-title":"Front Public Health"},{"key":"2025102419155076500_R32","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1136\/bmj.o1275","article-title":"Covid-19: sexually transmitted diseases surged in US during pandemic.","volume":"377","author":"Tanne","year":"2022","journal-title":"BMJ"},{"issue":"7","key":"2025102419155076500_R33","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"490","DOI":"10.1097\/OLQ.0000000000001638","article-title":"Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on chlamydia and gonorrhea tests performed by a large national laboratory-United States, 2019 to 2020.","volume":"49","author":"Tao","year":"2022","journal-title":"Sex Transm Dis"},{"issue":"1","key":"2025102419155076500_R34","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1186\/s12879-022-07496-y","article-title":"Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the epidemiology of STDs in China: based on the GM (1,1) model.","volume":"22","author":"Yan","year":"2022","journal-title":"BMC Infect Dis"},{"issue":"4","key":"2025102419155076500_R35","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1233","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jds.2021.02.001","article-title":"Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the utilization of medical and dental services in Taiwan: a cohort study.","volume":"16","author":"Lee","year":"2021","journal-title":"J Dent Sci"},{"key":"2025102419155076500_R36","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2340\/actadv.v102.3401","article-title":"Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on the Incidence of Sexually Transmitted Infections in Northern Finland in 2019 to 2022.","volume":"102","author":"M\u00e4ki-Koivisto","year":"2022","journal-title":"Acta Derm Venereol"},{"issue":"8","key":"2025102419155076500_R37","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1231","DOI":"10.1016\/S1473-3099(22)00175-X","article-title":"Real-world trends in incidence of bacterial sexually transmissible infections among gay and bisexual men using HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in Australia following nationwide PrEP implementation: an analysis of sentinel surveillance data.","volume":"22","author":"Traeger","year":"2022","journal-title":"Lancet Infect Dis"},{"issue":"4","key":"2025102419155076500_R38","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.15585\/mmwr.rr7004a1","article-title":"Sexually transmitted infections treatment guidelines, 2021.","volume":"70","author":"Workowski","year":"2021","journal-title":"MMWR Recomm Rep"},{"issue":"7","key":"2025102419155076500_R39","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1011","DOI":"10.1016\/S1473-3099(21)00754-4","article-title":"Effectiveness and impact of the 4CMenB vaccine against invasive serogroup B meningococcal disease and gonorrhoea in an infant, child, and adolescent programme: an observational cohort and case-control study.","volume":"22","author":"Wang","year":"2022","journal-title":"Lancet Infect Dis"}],"container-title":["Sexual Health"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/connectsci.au\/sh\/article-pdf\/doi\/10.1071\/SH23188\/150305\/sh23188.pdf","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"syndication"},{"URL":"https:\/\/connectsci.au\/sh\/article-pdf\/doi\/10.1071\/SH23188\/150305\/sh23188.pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,24]],"date-time":"2025-10-24T23:16:01Z","timestamp":1761347761000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/connectsci.au\/sh\/article\/21\/6\/SH23188\/21690\/Rising-incidence-of-gonorrhea-in-Taiwan-amid-the"}},"subtitle":[],"editor":[{"given":"Huachun","family":"Zou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"editor","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2024,11,5]]},"references-count":39,"journal-issue":{"issue":"6","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2024,12,23]]}},"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1071\/sh23188","relation":{},"ISSN":["1448-5028","1449-8987"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1448-5028","type":"print"},{"value":"1449-8987","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2024,11,5]]},"article-number":"SH23188"}}