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
. 2022 Aug;11(8):4473-4478.
doi: 10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_41_22. Epub 2022 Aug 30.

Bacterial coinfections in COVID: Prevalence, antibiotic sensitivity patterns and clinical outcomes from a tertiary institute of Northern India

Chinmoy Sahu  1 , Sweta Singh  1 , Ashutosh Pathak  1 , Sanjay Singh  1 , Sangram Singh Patel  1 , Ujjala Ghoshal  1 , Atul Garg  1
Affiliations

Bacterial coinfections in COVID: Prevalence, antibiotic sensitivity patterns and clinical outcomes from a tertiary institute of Northern India

Chinmoy Sahu et al. J Family Med Prim Care. 2022 Aug.

Abstract

Purpose: Bacterial coinfections are a leading cause of morbidity and mortality during viral infections including corona virus disease (COVID-19). The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need to comprehend the complex connection between bacterial and viral infections. During the current pandemic, systematic testing of the COVID-19 patients having bacterial coinfections is essential to choose the correct antibiotics for treatment and prevent the spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). This study was planned to study the prevalence, demographic parameters, comorbidities, antibiotic sensitivity patterns, and outcomes in hospitalized COVID-19 patients with bacterial coinfections.

Material and methods: The COVID-19 patients having bacterial coinfections were selected for the study and analyzed for the prevalence, antibiotic sensitivities, comorbidities, and clinical outcomes. The bacterial isolates were identified and the antibiotic susceptibility testing was performed according to the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) guidelines.

Results: Of the total 1,019 COVID-19 patients screened, 5.2% (n = 53) demonstrated clinical signs of bacterial coinfection. Escherichia coli were the most common isolate followed by Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Klebsiella spp. among the gram-negative bacterial infections. Coagulase-negative Staphylococcus species (CONS) and Staphylococcus aureus were most common among the gram-positive bacterial infections. The antibiotic sensitivity profiling revealed that colistin (99%), imipenem (78%), and fosfomycin (95%) were the most effective drugs against the gram-negative isolates while vancomycin (100%), teicoplanin (99%), and doxycycline (71%) were most potent against the gram-positive isolates. The analysis of the clinical parameters and outcomes revealed that among the COVID-19 patients with bacterial coinfections, the mortality rate was higher (39%) than the control group (17%) (P-value < 0.001).

Conclusion: This study reveals the significantly increased rates of bacterial coinfections among COVID-19 patients which may lead to an increase in mortality. This study will guide the physicians at the primary level on the rational and correct usage of antibiotics in such COVID cases. Hence, systematic testing of COVID-19 patients with bacterial coinfections is the need of the hour to decrease the mortality rate and limit the spread of AMR.

Keywords: Antibiotics; COVID-19; bacterial; coinfections; resistance.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

There are no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Antibiotic sensitivity pattern in gram-negative isolates (X-axis: percentage of antibiotic sensitivities, Y-axis: type of organisms)
Figure 2
Figure 2
Antibiotic sensitivity pattern in gram-positive isolates (X-axis: percentage of antibiotic sensitivities, Y-axis: type of organisms)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Guarner J. Three emerging coronaviruses in two decades The story of SARS, MERS, and now COVID-19. Am J Clin Pathol. 2020;153:420–1. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Kannan S, Shaik Syed Ali P, Sheeza A, Hemalatha K. COVID-19 (novel coronavirus 2019) – recent trends. Eur Rev Med Pharmacol Sci. 2020;24:2006–11. - PubMed
    1. World Health Organization. Transmission of SARS-CoV-2: Implications for Infection Prevention Precautions. [Last accessed on2020 Sep 10]. Available from: https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/modes-of-transmission-of-virus-c... .
    1. Li X, Geng M, Peng Y, Meng L. Molecular immune pathogenesis and diagnosis of COVID-19. J Pharm Anal. 2020;10:102–8. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Esper FP, Spahlinger T, Zhou L. Rate and influence of respiratory virus coinfection on pandemic (H1N1) influenza disease. J Infect. 2011;63:260–6. - PMC - PubMed