Gender- and Age-Stratified Aedes Mosquito Rising and Dengue Burden During COVID- 19 Pandemic in Saudi Arabia

Background: COVID-19 pandemic led to unprecedented healthcare gaps and challenges linked to COVID-19 pandemic induced constraint on domestic mosquito vector and vector control programs leading to increase in vector-borne diseases public health burden. The study evaluate gender and age linked the increasing Aedes mosquito vector and Dengue virus fitness during COVID-19 pandemic response, in order to provide evidence-based policy decision and priority on integrated vector-borne diseases management with COVID-19 response interventions in Jeddah municipalities, Saudi Arabia. Methods A cross-sectional, retro/prospective and analytic increase mosquito risk factors and cases prevalence study was conducted to guide ongoing field mosquito surveillance and integrated vector control interventions during and post COVID-19 response and recovery interventions in Jeddah municipalities, Saudi Arabia Results There were marked but not statistically significant fluctuations in the number of monthly confirmed dengue cases during both periods. The highest number of monthly confirmed cases before the pandemic was reported in June 2019 (205 cases) and January 2019 (247 points). Similarly, the first peak during the pandemic was recorded in June 2020 (274 cases), whereas the highest number was documented in April 2021 (311 cases). Monthly gender-based trend of dengue cases before and during the COVID-19 pandemic showed that males were the most affected over the study period as compared to the females. During Covid-19, the trend is increasing with peak over 150 cases in June 2020 and April/May 2021during COVID-19. Age-stratified variations of dengue cases reveals that more cases were during the age range of 15–45 and few above 45 years old with peak precovid recorded in June and December 2019 with over 150 cases recorded. We documented a rise in dengue cases amongst local Saudi with a surge from April to the peak over 100 dengue cases in July 2020, but lesser that non Saudi cases with a surge during the same period and peak over 170 dengue cases in 2020. Conclusions To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study documented on the impact of gender and age linked the increasing Aedes mosquito vector and Dengue virus fitness during COVID-19 pandemic response interventions in Saudi Arabia. There is an urgent need to harnessing evidence-decisions on integrated vector-borne diseases surveillance and integrated vector management policies, with COVID-19 response interventions including vaccination coverage and effectiveness in Jeddah municipalities, Saudi Arabia