Bacterial Co- or Superinfection in Patients Treated in Intensive Care Unit with COVID-19- and Influenza-Associated Pneumonia
Jochen Johannes Schoettler,
Stany Sandrio,
Christoph Boesing,
Lena Bauer,
Thomas Miethke,
Manfred Thiel,
Joerg Krebs
Affiliations
Jochen Johannes Schoettler
Department of Anaesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, University Medical Centre Mannheim, Medical Faculty Mannheim of the University of Heidelberg, Theodor-Kutzer-Ufer 1-3, 68165 Mannheim, Germany
Stany Sandrio
Department of Anaesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, University Medical Centre Mannheim, Medical Faculty Mannheim of the University of Heidelberg, Theodor-Kutzer-Ufer 1-3, 68165 Mannheim, Germany
Christoph Boesing
Department of Anaesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, University Medical Centre Mannheim, Medical Faculty Mannheim of the University of Heidelberg, Theodor-Kutzer-Ufer 1-3, 68165 Mannheim, Germany
Lena Bauer
Department of Anaesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, University Medical Centre Mannheim, Medical Faculty Mannheim of the University of Heidelberg, Theodor-Kutzer-Ufer 1-3, 68165 Mannheim, Germany
Thomas Miethke
Mannheim Institute for Innate Immunoscience (MI3), Medical Faculty Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, Ludolf-Krehl-Str. 13-17, 68167 Mannheim, Germany
Manfred Thiel
Department of Anaesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, University Medical Centre Mannheim, Medical Faculty Mannheim of the University of Heidelberg, Theodor-Kutzer-Ufer 1-3, 68165 Mannheim, Germany
Joerg Krebs
Department of Anaesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, University Medical Centre Mannheim, Medical Faculty Mannheim of the University of Heidelberg, Theodor-Kutzer-Ufer 1-3, 68165 Mannheim, Germany
Viral pneumonia is frequently complicated by bacterial co- or superinfection (c/s) with adverse effects on patients’ outcomes. However, the incidence of c/s and its impact on the outcomes of patients might be dependent on the type of viral pneumonia. We performed a retrospective observational study in patients with confirmed COVID-19 pneumonia (CP) or influenza pneumonia (IP) from 01/2009 to 04/2022, investigating the incidence of c/s using a competing risk model and its impact on mortality in these patients in a tertiary referral center using multivariate logistic regressions. Co-infection was defined as pulmonary pathogenic bacteria confirmed in tracheal aspirate or bronchoalveolar lavage within 48 h after hospitalization. Superinfection was defined as pulmonary pathogenic bacteria detected in tracheal aspirate or bronchoalveolar lavage 48 h after hospitalization. We examined 114 patients with CP and 76 patients with IP. Pulmonary bacterial co-infection was detected in 15 (13.2%), and superinfection was detected in 50 (43.9%) of CP patients. A total of 5 (6.6%) co-infections (p = 0.2269) and 28 (36.8%) superinfections (p = 0.3687) were detected in IP patients. The overall incidence of c/s did not differ between CP and IP patients, and c/s was not an independent predictor for mortality in a study cohort with a high disease severity. We found a significantly higher probability of superinfection for patients with CP compared to patients with IP (p = 0.0017).