Urinary antigen testing for respiratory infection during COVID-19: The microbiologist as a diagnostic steward

Abstract

The use of antimicrobials in the management of community-acquired COVID-19 is commonplace but evidence for coinfection with common bacterial pathogens to justify their use is lacking. We undertook a retrospective review of all respiratory cultures, blood cultures and urinary antigen tests in COVID-19 patients looking for co-infection with Streptococcus pneumoniae and Legionella pneumophila, and specifically to judge the utility of urinary antigen testing. 2674 GSTT patients were included who had a positive RT-PCR test for SARS-CoV-2 performed at GSTT between 03-March-2020 and 31-Jan-2021 and who had at least one other microbiology sample for review.