Antibiotic resistant co-infections: A silent killer in COVID-19 patients
By Oliver Schacht / Special to Healthcare Facilities Today
May 12, 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S. is nearing its expected peak, yet the number of critical cases and the mortality rate continue to rise. People that suffer from pandemic viruses such as COVID-19 are more prone to secondary bacterial and fungal infections.
A recent study found that an estimated one-in-seven hospitalized COVID-19 patients develop secondary infections, such as pneumonia, many of whom are already classified as high-risk.
Hospitals and healthcare facilities are making great strides to slow the curve and lower the transmission rate to protect patients from these threats. Effective treatment strategies that rely on innovative diagnostics to guide therapy decisions and antibiotic use are crucial in the management of these patients.
New WHO guidelines on the clinical management of COVID-19 point out
that dual infections with other respiratory bacterial infections have been found in COVID-19 patients and the most common diagnosis in
severe COVID-19 patients is severe pneumonia.
As such, both the WHO and IDSA guidelines for managing COVID-19 recommend empiric treatment with antibiotics in this high-risk population.
They further note that antibiotics should be deescalated as quickly as possible based on microbiology testing results and patients’ clinical status.
With a pandemic on a scale of COVID-19, experts have predicted that the increased use of antibiotics during this time could advance a new challenge that the world is already familiar with – antibiotic resistant superbugs.
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