Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2016 Jul:80:12-9.
doi: 10.1016/j.jcv.2016.04.008. Epub 2016 Apr 14.

Bacterial and viral co-infections complicating severe influenza: Incidence and impact among 507 U.S. patients, 2013-14

Affiliations

Bacterial and viral co-infections complicating severe influenza: Incidence and impact among 507 U.S. patients, 2013-14

Nirav S Shah et al. J Clin Virol. 2016 Jul.

Abstract

Background: Influenza acts synergistically with bacterial co-pathogens. Few studies have described co-infection in a large cohort with severe influenza infection.

Objectives: To describe the spectrum and clinical impact of co-infections.

Study design: Retrospective cohort study of patients with severe influenza infection from September 2013 through April 2014 in intensive care units at 33 U.S. hospitals comparing characteristics of cases with and without co-infection in bivariable and multivariable analysis.

Results: Of 507 adult and pediatric patients, 114 (22.5%) developed bacterial co-infection and 23 (4.5%) developed viral co-infection. Staphylococcus aureus was the most common cause of co-infection, isolated in 47 (9.3%) patients. Characteristics independently associated with the development of bacterial co-infection of adult patients in a logistic regression model included the absence of cardiovascular disease (OR 0.41 [0.23-0.73], p=0.003), leukocytosis (>11K/μl, OR 3.7 [2.2-6.2], p<0.001; reference: normal WBC 3.5-11K/μl) at ICU admission and a higher ICU admission SOFA score (for each increase by 1 in SOFA score, OR 1.1 [1.0-1.2], p=0.001). Bacterial co-infections (OR 2.2 [1.4-3.6], p=0.001) and viral co-infections (OR 3.1 [1.3-7.4], p=0.010) were both associated with death in bivariable analysis. Patients with a bacterial co-infection had a longer hospital stay, a longer ICU stay and were likely to have had a greater delay in the initiation of antiviral administration than patients without co-infection (p<0.05) in bivariable analysis.

Conclusions: Bacterial co-infections were common, resulted in delay of antiviral therapy and were associated with increased resource allocation and higher mortality.

Keywords: Co-infection; ICU; Influenza A (H1N1) pdm09; MRSA; Severe influenza; Staphylococcus aureus.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Antibiogram of Staphylococcus aureus isolates (n = 47) from co-infections, showing the percent that were resistant or intermediate to selected antibacterial drugs from 47 patients with severe influenza in the U.S. between September 1, 2013 and April 1, 2014.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Percentage of community-acquired and hospital-acquired co-infections attributed to Staphylococcus aureus, Enterobacteriaceae and Pseudomonas sp. among 507 patients with severe influenza in the U.S. between September 1, 2013 and April 1, 2014.

References

    1. Thompson W.W., Shay D.K., Weintraub E., Brammer L., Cox N., Anderson L.J. Mortality associated with influenza and respiratory syncytial virus in the United States. JAMA. 2003;289(2):179–186. - PubMed
    1. Brundage J.F., Shanks G.D. Deaths from bacterial pneumonia during 1918–19 influenza pandemic. Emerg. Infect. Dis. 2008;14(8):1193–1199. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Morens D.M., Taubenberger J.K., Fauci A.S. Predominant role of bacterial pneumonia as a cause of death in pandemic influenza: implications for pandemic influenza preparedness. J. Infect. Dis. 2008;198(7):962–970. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Murata Y., Walsh E.E., Falsey A.R. Pulmonary complications of interpandemic influenza A in hospitalized adults. J. Infect. Dis. 2007;195(7):1029–1037. - PubMed
    1. Morens D.M., Fauci A.S. The 1918 influenza pandemic: insights for the 21st century. J. Infect. Dis. 2007;195(7):1018–1028. - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms