Incidence and Characteristics of Co-infection and Secondary Infection in Patients with COVID-19

ABSTRACT Objective The etiology and epidemiology of co-infection and secondary infection in COVID-19 patients remain unknown. The study aims to investigate the occurrence and characteristics of co-infection and secondary infection in COVID-19 patients, mainly focusing on Streptococcus pneumoniae co-...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:bioRxiv 2021-01
Main Authors: Guo, Yingyi, Qu, Jiuxin, Cheng, Lingling, Li, Xiaohe, Liu, Ningjing, Li, Tungngai, Jiang, Ying, Qiao Wan, Chuyue Zhuo, Xiao, Shunian, Liu, Baomo, Chen, Yan, Fu, Lin, Chen, Zhixu, Ma, Mingcong, Chao Zhuo, Zhong, Nanshan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Antibiotics
Concurrent infection
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
Epidemiology
Etiology
Influenza A
Pathogens
Patients
Secondary infection
Streptococcus infections
Streptococcus pneumoniae
Online Access:Request full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:ABSTRACT Objective The etiology and epidemiology of co-infection and secondary infection in COVID-19 patients remain unknown. The study aims to investigate the occurrence and characteristics of co-infection and secondary infection in COVID-19 patients, mainly focusing on Streptococcus pneumoniae co-infections. Methods This study was a prospective, observational cohort study of the inpatients diagnosed with COVID-19 in two designated hospitals in south China enrolled between Jan 11 and Feb 22, 2020. The urine specimen was collected on admission and applied for pneumococcal urinary antigen tests (PUATs). Demographic, clinical and microbiological data of patients were recorded simultaneously. Result A total of 146 patients with a confirm diagnosis of COVID-19 at the median age of 50.0 years (IQR 36.0-61.0) were enrolled, in which, 16 (11.0%) were classified as severe cases and 130 (89.0%) as non-severe cases. Of the enrolled patients, only 3 (2.1%) were considered to present the co-infection, in which 1 was co-infected with S.pneumoniae, 1 with B. Ovatus infection and the other one with Influenza A virus infection. Secondary infection occurred in 16 patients, with S. maltophilia as the most commonly isolated pathogen (43.8%), followed by P. aeruginosa (25.0%), E. aerogenes (25.0%), C. parapsilosis (25.0%) and A. fumigates (18.8%). Conclusion Patients with confirmed COVID-19 were rarely co-infected with Streptococcus pneumoniae or other pathogens, indicating that the application of antibiotics against CAP on admission may not be necessary in the treatment of COVID-19 cases.
DOI:10.1101/2021.01.06.425542