An observational study on bacterial infections in hospitalized coronavirus patients in a tertiary care center

Abstract

Introduction: The latest global pandemic is caused by SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. 6% of patients are admitted to the hospital, with 20% of those admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) due to acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Aim: to characterise the bacterial infections in patients with coronavirus at an ICU of North Indian Hospital. Method: After receiving ethical approval from the institutional review board, a retrospective study was done on coronavirus subjects admitted to GMC Srinagar's ICUs between January and June 2021. Data on demographics, comorbidities, and microbiology were obtained retrospectively. Results: Overall, “394 COVID-19 patients were admitted to ICU. Median age was 58 years (IQR 51–69) and sex ratio (M/F) was 3. At admission the median SAPS II was 33 (IQR 24–49). Among patients, 232 had at least one co-morbidity and 162 were overweight (body mass index (BMI) = 27.8 kg/m2). In all, 358 patients received antibiotics (244/358 introduced before ICU and 114/358 during ICU stay)”. Conclusion: The current study is the first of its kind in our hospital setting to describe the bacterial persistence in the lungs despite adequate therapy, as well as frequent bloodstream infections possibly associated with bacterial translocations originating from the digestive or oropharyngeal microbiota, in COVID-19 ICU patients.

Keywords

• sepsis
• bacterial infection
• etiology
• icu