Public Hygiene Campaign in Denmark during the 2009 H1N1 Pandemic Had No Effect on Hospitalization Rate of Communicable Diseases in Children

BACKGROUND During the 2009 H1N1 pandemic the Danish National board of Health carried out massive public hygiene campaigns to limit spread of disease. We aimed to investigate whether this resulted in lower incidences of communicable diseases in the paediatric population. METHODS The study compared annual hospitalization rates for childhood infections from 2005 to 2011. RESULTS Admission rates for infections were higher during the year of the pandemic compared to the rest of the period. CONCLUSION There were no indications of a preventive effect by the hygiene campaign on incidence of severe common childhood infections.