Clinical and etiological analysis of co ‐infections and secondary infections in COVID‐19 patients: an observational study

AbstractTo investigate the role of co ‐infections and secondary infections in disease severity of hospitalized individuals with COVID‐19, a retrospective study was carried out between January 11 and March 1, 2020 among 408 laboratory confirmed COVID‐19 patients in China. These patients were divided into three groups based on disea se severity: mild or moderate, severe, or critically ill. Microbiological pathogens in blood, urine, and respiratory tract specimens were detected by the combination of culture, serology, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and metagenomic next‐generation sequencing (mNGS). The median age of particip ants was 48 years (IQR 34‐60 years). 52 patients (12.7%) had at least one additional pathogen, 8.1% were co‐infected, and 5.1% had a secondary infection. There were 13Mycoplasma pneumoniae cases, 8Haemophilus influenza cases, 8 respiratory viruses, and 3Streptococcus pneumoniae cases, primarily detected in mild and moderate COVID ‐19 patients. Hospital‐acquired infection pathogens were more common in critically ill patients. Compared to those without additional pathogens, patients with co and/or secondary infections were more likely to receive antibiotics (p< 0.001) and have elevated levels of D ‐dimer (p = 0.0012), Interleukin ‐6 (IL‐6) (p = 0.0027) and procalcitonin (PCT) (p = 0.0002). The performance of conventional culture was comparable with that of mNGS in diagnosis of secondary infections. Co ‐infections and secondary infe...
Source: The Clinical Respiratory Journal - Category: Respiratory Medicine Authors: Tags: ORIGINAL ARTICLE Source Type: research