1. Is the Pendulum of Antimicrobial Drug Resistance Swinging Back after COVID-19?
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Francesca Serapide, Angela Quirino, Vincenzo Scaglione, Helen Linda Morrone, Federico Longhini, Andrea Bruni, Eugenio Garofalo, Giovanni Matera, Nadia Marascio, Giuseppe Guido Maria Scarlata, Claudia Cicino, Alessandro Russo, Enrico Maria Trecarichi, and Carlo Torti
- Subjects
COVID-19 ,antimicrobial resistance ,MDR ,Biology (General) ,QH301-705.5 - Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic may have had an effect on antimicrobial resistance. We compared the prevalence of ESKAPE multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacterial infections in COVID-19 affected/unaffected patients admitted to intensive care units (ICU) or infectious disease units at the “Mater Domini” University Hospital of Catanzaro between 1 March 2020 and 31 July 2021. Moreover, an analysis of MDR rates in ICU comparing the pre-pandemic period with the pandemic period was performed, and the possible consequence on in-hospital mortality was explored. One hundred and eighty-four ESKAPE isolates were analyzed from 362 SARS-CoV-2 positive and 199 negative patients. In total, 116 out of 171 Gram-negative isolates were classified as MDR, and a higher frequency was observed in COVID-19 compared with non-COVID-19 patients (74.2% vs. 60.3%; p = 0.052). A higher rate of MDR ESKAPE bacteria was observed in COVID-19 patients admitted to the ICU compared with COVID-19 unaffected patients admitted to the same ward in 2019 (88% vs. 80.4%; p = 0.186). Acinetobacter baumannii was the main pathogen in COVID-19 patients (58.7%), where it was the most frequent cause of bloodstream infection with the highest mortality rate (68.7%). Increase in MDR appeared to be associated with COVID-19 but only in the ICU setting. Acinetobacter baumannii was associated with the risk of death, indicating the importance of implementing infection control measures urgently.
- Published
- 2022
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