Relationship between COVID-19 and antimicrobial resistance

Year 2023, Volume: 36 Issue: 3, 312 - 318, 29.09.2023

Tuba Müderris , Selcuk Kaya Fulya Bayındır Bilman , Erkan Ozmen Bilal Olcay Peker , Ayşegül Aksoy Gökmen , Süreyya Gül Yurtsever

https://doi.org/10.5472/marumj.1367895

Abstract

Objective: Bacterial and fungal infections, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) results of bacterial agents, and the effect of the pandemic
on AMR were evaluated in hospitalized COVID-19 patients. In addition, the detected AMR rates were compared with the AMR rates
of the pre-pandemic period.
Patients and Methods: The isolates grown in respiratory and blood samples of adult patients hospitalized with the diagnosis of
COVID-19 between March 2020 and December 2020 were evaluated retrospectively. The same data in hospitalized patients before the
pandemic, between March and December 2019, were evaluated retrospectively.
Results: A total of 724 samples were included in the study. The superinfection rate was found to be 15.3%. The most frequently isolated
microorganisms are; Acinetobacter baumannii (34.4%), Staphylococcus aureus (10.8%), Klebsiella pneumoniae (9.7%) and Pseudomonas
aeruginosa (7.3%). The lowest resistance rates in Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates were found for aminoglycosides, in Acinetobacter
baumannii isolates were found for trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, in Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates were found for amikacin.
When pre-pandemic and pandemic AMR rates were compared; a significant increase in amikacin resistance was detected only in
Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates during the pandemic period (P:0.049).
Conclusion: The data we have presented may help clinicians in the selection of antimicrobials for empirical therapy by revealing the
effect of the pandemic on AMR.

Keywords

Antimicrobial resistance, Bacterial infection, COVID-19, Fungal infection

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