Evaluation of Bi-Lateral Co-Infections and Antibiotic Resistance Rates among COVID-19 Patients in Lahore, Pakistan

Abstract

<i>Background and Objective:</i> Bacterial infections are among the major complications of many viral respiratory tract illnesses, such as influenza and coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19). These bacterial co-infections are associated with an increase in morbidity and mortality rates. The current observational study was conducted at a tertiary care hospital in Lahore, Pakistan among COVID-19 patients with the status of oxygen dependency to see the prevalence of bacterial co-infections and their antibiotic susceptibility patterns. <i>Materials and Methods</i>: A total of 1251 clinical samples were collected from already diagnosed COVID-19 patients and tested for bacterial identification (cultures) and susceptibility testing (disk diffusion and minimum inhibitory concentration) using gold standard diagnostic methods. <i>Results</i>: From the total collected samples, 234 were found positive for different bacterial isolates. The most common isolated bacteria were <i>Escherichia coli</i> (<i>E. coli</i>) (<i>n</i> = 62) and <i>Acinetobacter baumannii</i> (<i>A. baumannii</i>) (<i>n</i> = 47). The <i>E. coli</i> isolates have shown the highest resistance to amoxicillin and ampicillin, while in the case of <i>A. baumannii</i>, the highest resistance was noted against tetracycline. The prevalence of methicillin resistant <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i> (MRSA) was 14.9%, carbapenem resistant <i>Enterobacteriaceae</i> (CRE) was 4.5%, and vancomycin resistant <i>Enterococcus</i> (VRE) was 3.96%. <i>Conclusions:</i> The results of the current study conclude that empiric antimicrobial treatment in critically ill COVID-19 patients may be considered if properly managed within institutional or national level antibiotic stewardship programs, because it may play a protective role in the case of bacterial co-infections, especially when a patient has other AMR risk factors, such as hospital admission within the previous six months.

Access to Document

Other files and links

• Link to publication in Scopus
• Open Access Version Available

Fingerprint