Varicella is a highly prevalent infectious disease with a similar transmission pathway to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, anti-COVID-19 non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) have been implemented to prevent the spread of the infection. This study aims to analyze varicella’s epidemiological characteristics and further investigate the effect of anti-COVID-19 NPIs on varicella in Xi’an, northwestern China. Based on the varicella surveillance data, search engine indices, meteorological factors from 2011 to 2021 in Xi’an, and different levels of emergency response to COVID-19 during the pandemic, we applied Bayesian Structural Time Series models and interrupted time series analysis to predict the counterfactual incidence of varicella and quantify the impact of varying NPIs intensities on varicella. From 2011 to 2021, varicella incidence increased, especially in 2019, with a high incidence of 111.69/100,000. However, there was a sharp decrease of 43.18% in 2020 compared with 2019, and the peak of varicella incidence in 2020 was lower than in previous years from the 21st to the 25th week. In 2021, the seasonality of varicella incidence gradually returned to a seasonal pattern in 2011-2019. The results suggest that anti-COVID-19 NPIs effectively reduce the incidence of varicella, and this reduction has spatiotemporal heterogeneity.

Membrane-Associated Ring-CH (MARCH) family proteins were recently reported to inhibit viral replication through multiple modes of action. Previous work proved that human MARCH8 blocked Ebola virus (EBOV) glycoprotein (GP) maturation. Our study here demonstrates that human MARCH1 and MARCH2 share a similar pattern to MARCH8 in restricting EBOV GP-mediated viral replication. Human MARCH1 and MARCH2 retain EBOV GP in the trans-Golgi network (TGN), reduce its surface display, and impair EBOV GP-pseudotyped virions infectivity. Furthermore, we uncover that the host proprotein convertase (PC) furin could interact with human MARCH1/2 and EBOV GP intracellularly. Importantly, the furin P domain is confirmed to be recognized by MARCH1/2/8, which is critical for their blocking activities. Besides, bovine MARCH2 and murine MARCH1 also impair EBOV GP proteolytic processing. Altogether, our findings confirm that MARCH1/2 proteins of different species showed a relatively conserved feature in blocking EBOV GP proteolytic processing, which could provide a reference for subsequent antiviral studies and may facilitate the development of novel strategies to antagonize enveloped virus infection.

The number of measles cases reported worldwide has increased in recent years, and in 2015, there was a measles outbreak in Xi’an, China. However, the epidemiology of measles and the seroepidemiology of healthy people after 2015 have not been fully understood. We collected fingertip blood samples from healthy people around each suspected measles case in Xi’an in 2016-2018 and tested IgG using ELISA. Eighty measles cases were reported in Xi’an in 2016–2018, with an average annual incidence of 0.29 per 100,000 persons. Children aged ≤ 5 years and adults aged 25-29 accounted for a large proportion of measles cases. More than half of the cases in the 0-year group were under 8 months. A total of 5476 blood samples from healthy people were collected. Apart from 1-4 years and over 40, other age groups’ seroprevalence was 93%. Our findings suggest that the first vaccine shot should be administered at 6 months or earlier, the second at 12 months, and the third at 10 years, and couples prepared for [pregnancy](javascript:showjdsw(’showlj_1’,’lj_1’)) should be vaccinated with another dose. The findings may provide novel insights into measles elimination.