The increased incidence of antimicrobial resistance during coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a very important collateral damage of global concern. The cause is multifactorial and is particularly related to the high rates of antibiotic use in COVID-19 patients with a relatively low rate of secondary co-infection. To this end, we conducted a retrospective observational study of 1269 COVID-19 patients admitted during the years 2020, 2021 and 2022 in two Italian hospitals, with a focus on bacterial co-infections and antimicrobial therapy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnlabelled: Cytokine patterns and immune activation in patients with Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) seem to resemble the case of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), psoriasis and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Biological drugs, such as anti-tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα) and interleukin (IL) inhibitors, appear to be protective against adverse outcomes of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). However, these treatments are associated with an increased risk of secondary infections.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Clin Med
May 2022
Introduction: During the 2019 Coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19), a concern emerged regarding a possible correlation between the severe form of SARS-CoV-2 infection and administration of ACE-Inhibitors (ACE-I) and Sartans (ARB), since long-term use of these drugs may potentially result in an adaptive response with up-regulation of the ACE 2 receptor. Given the crucial role of ACE2, being the main target for virus entry into the cell, the potential consequences of ACE2 up-regulation have been a source of debate. The aim of this retrospective cohort study on COVID-19-positive patients who died is to investigate whether previous long-term exposure to ACE-I and/or ARB was associated with higher mortality due to COVID-19 infection, compared to all other types of drug treatment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCPT Pharmacometrics Syst Pharmacol
April 2022
Salbutamol was included in the prohibited list of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in 2004. Although systemic intake is banned, inhalation for asthma is permitted but with dosage restrictions. The WADA established a urinary concentration threshold to distinguish accordingly prohibited systemic self-administration from therapeutic prescription by inhalation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF