Bacterial Infections in Covid-19 Patients Admitted in Intensive Care Units of a Tertiary Care Hospital

Abstract

Objective: To detect presence of bacterial infections in RT-PCR confirmed Covid-19 patients.
Methods: This is a retrospective study of the data from 246 RT-PCR confirmed Covid-19 patients, admitted to ICUs of Mayo Hospital, Lahore from 1st April 2020 to 30th September 2020 and conducted in the department of Pathology, King Edward Medical University, Lahore. Bacterial infections were determined by characteristic clinical features and positive bacterial cultures. The data was extracted from the record of ICUs of Mayo hospital and Microbiology laboratory record with a standardized data collection form. The ethical
approval was obtained from institutional review board of King Edward Medical University, Lahore.
Results: Bacterial infections were detected in 32.5% patients. Tracheal secretions were the most frequent source, representing 51.3% of all the infections, followed by pus 16.2%, urine 13.5%, blood 12.1%, pleural fluid 4%, sputum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) constituting 1.3% Klebsiella pneumoniae was the most frequently isolated organism (28.4%), followed by Pseudomonas 24.4%, Eschericia coli 22.9%, Staphylococcus aureus 8.1% and Acinetobacter baumanii 8.1%, Citrobacter freundii 6.8%, Salmonella typhi 1.3%.
Bacterial infections were frequent in age group 60-70 years.
Conclusion: Bacterial infections in patients of Covid-19 are not uncommon. These can lead to increased
morbidity and mortality.