TY - JOUR
AU - Ahmed, Naveed
AU - Khan, Madiha
AU - Saleem, Waqas
AU - Karobari, Mohmed Isaqali
AU - Mohamed, Roshan Noor
AU - Heboyan, Artak
AU - Rabaan, Ali A.
AU - Mutair, Abbas Al
AU - Alhumaid, Saad
AU - Alsadiq, Salman A.
AU - Bueid, Ahmed S.
AU - Santali, Eman Y.
AU - Alestad, Jeehan H.
PY - 2022
DA - February
TI - Evaluation of bi-lateral co-infections and antibiotic resistance rates among COVID-19 patients
JO - Antibiotics
VL - 11
IS - 2
DO - https://doi.org/10.3390/antibiotics11020276
AB - In addition to the pathogenesis of SARS-CoV-2, bacterial co-infection plays an essential role in the incidence and progression of SARS-CoV-2 infections by increasing the severity of infection, as well as increasing disease symptoms, death rate and antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The current study was conducted in a tertiary-care hospital in Lahore, Pakistan, among hospitalized COVID-19 patients to see the prevalence of bacterial co-infections and the AMR rates among different isolated bacteria. Clinical samples for the laboratory diagnosis were collected from 1165 hospitalized COVID-19 patients, of which 423 were found to be positive for various bacterial infections. Most of the isolated bacteria were Gram-negative rods (n = 366), followed by Gram-positive cocci (n = 57). A significant association (p 0.05) was noted between the hospitalized COVID-19 patients and bacterial co-infections. Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) showed high resistance against tetracycline (61.7%), Streptococcus pyogenes against penicillin (100%), E. coli against Amp-clavulanic acid (88.72%), Klebsiella pneumoniae against ampicillin (100%), and Pseudomonas aeruginosa against ciprofloxacin (75.40%). Acinetobacter baumannii was 100% resistant to the majority of tested antibiotics. The prevalence of methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) was 14.7%. The topmost symptoms of &gt; 50% of COVID-19 patients were fever, fatigue, dyspnea and chest pain with a significant association (p 0.05) in bacterial co-infected patients. The current study results showed a comparatively high prevalence of AMR, which may become a severe health-related issue in the future. Therefore, strict compliance of antibiotic usage and employment of antibiotic stewardship programs at every public or private institutional level are recommended.
PB - MDPI
UR - https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/79680/
KW - Coronavirus (COVID-19)
ER