Roya Sadidi, Hatef Ajoudanifar, Hamed Ghasemzadeh-Moghadam, Amir Azimian,
Volume 16, Issue 4 (1-2025)
Introduction: The COVID-19 viral infection was one of the widespread pandemics of the 20th century. One of the concerns of physicians was the simultaneous presence of opportunistic viral and bacterial infections, which worsened the prognosis of the treatment of COVID-19 infection. The aim of this study is to evaluate the prevalence of bacterial co- infection SARS-CoV-19 in deceased COVID-19 hospitalized patients in north khorasan hospitals in iran between 2020-2022.
Method: Deceased patients in the ICU department of North Khorasan hospitals who had been diagnosed with COVID-19 infection were included in the study. Patient information was extracted from the Health Information System (HIS). Bacterial culture and antibiogram were performed on the swab samples as well as the lung aspirate secretions of the patients.
Results: Among 390 deceased patients examined in this study, 287 cases had bacterial co-infection. The most common simultaneous bacterial infections were Staphylococcus epidermidis (51%), Staphylococcus aureus (29%), and Acinetobacter baumanni (20%). Most of the dead people were in the age group higher than 60 years, in which co-infection with Staphylococcus epidermidis was more common. More underlying diseases were observed in age groups over 40 years old, with the most common being heart disease and asthma, respectively.
Conclusion: According to the research findings, simultaneous bacterial infections, as well as asthma, can increase the mortality of affected patients; therefore, screening of patients with COVID-19 infection in terms of common hospital respiratory bacterial agents is recommended.
