Background: The higher mortality rate in COVID-19 patients is still a concern. Though some studies mention that elderly patients with co-morbidities are at higher risk of mortality, some others report uneventful outcomes in young patients even without co-morbidities. Secondary bacterial and fungal infections, especially with nosocomial pathogens are known to be associated with worse outcome in the ongoing pandemic as well as in the previous viral outbreaks. In such a scenario, the outcome of hospitalized COVID-19 patients can be improved by timely identification of secondary infections using appropriate biomarkers and by following appropriate infection control measures to prevent the spread of nosocomial pathogens.
Objective: The study aims to find out the prevalence of bloodstream infections (BSI) among hospitalized COVID-19 patients and to analyze their laboratory markers and outcome by comparing them with those without BSI.
Methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional study, the prevalence of secondary BSI was determined among the hospitalized COVID-19 patients by including 388 blood culture bottles collected from 293 patients, which were received in the microbiology lab within the study period.
Results: The overall prevalence of BSI in COVID-19 patients was 39.5% (116/293), out of which 35.5% (104/293) infections were bacterial, and 4.1% (12/293) were fungal, while 8.9% (26/293) patients grew contaminants, and 51.5% (151/293) were sterile. Common causative agents of secondary BSI were found to be MDR Klebsiella pneumoniae (10.9%) and Acinetobacter baumannii (8.8%) followed by Candida species (4.1%). Patients with co-morbidities like diabetes, hypertension and COPD were at higher risk of developing BSI with significantly higher levels of sepsis markers such as Creactive protein (CRP), procalcitonin, ferritin and Interleukin-6 (IL-6). The mortality rate was significantly higher (60.2%) in patients with BSI compared to the group of patients without BSI.
Conclusion: Our findings suggest the necessity of early diagnosis of the secondary infections using appropriate biomarkers and following proper infection control measures to prevent the spread of the nosocomial infections and improve the outcome of hospitalized COVID-19 patients.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.2174/1871526522666220418093450 | DOI Listing |
Psychol Rep
January 2025
Faculty of Education, Guangxi Normal University, Guilin, China Guangxi College and University Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Applied Psychology, Guilin, China.
Strengths knowledge refers to individuals' perceptions and recognition of their strengths, and is recognized for its protective role in mental health. Family functioning provides certain environmental conditions for the healthy development of family members in physical, psychological, and social aspects, particularly during stressful periods such as the COVID-19 pandemic. It also plays an important role in youth's ability to cope with stressful situations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPLoS One
January 2025
NIE-Indian Council of Medical Research-National Institute of Epidemiology, Chennai, India.
Background: Judicious utilisation of tertiary care facilities through appropriate risk stratification assumes priority, in a raging pandemic, of the nature of delta variant-predominated second wave of COVID-19 pandemic in India. Prioritisation of tertiary care, through a scientifically validated risk score, would maximise recovery without compromising individual safety, but importantly without straining the health system.
Methods: De-identified data of COVID-19 confirmed patients admitted to a tertiary care hospital in South India, between April 1, 2021 and July 31, 2021, corresponding to the peak of COVID-19 second wave, were analysed after segregating into 'survivors' or 'non-survivors' to evaluate the risk factors for COVID-19 mortality at admission and formulate a risk score with easily obtainable but clinically relevant parameters for accurate patient triaging.
PLoS One
January 2025
Department of Mathematics, Konkuk University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Mathematical and statistical methods are invaluable in epidemiological investigations, enhancing our understanding of disease transmission dynamics and informing effective control measures. In this study, we presented a method to estimate transmissibility using patient-level data, with application to the 2015 MERS outbreak at Pyeongtaek St. Mary's Hospital, the Republic of Korea.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPLoS One
January 2025
Helsinki University Hospital, Abdominal Centre, Transplantation and Liver Surgery, and University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
Background: Patients with end-stage kidney disease often prefer home-based dialysis due to higher self-efficacy, which relates to improved medical treatment adherence. Kidney transplantation (KT) success depends on adhering to immunosuppressive medication post-transplant.
Objectives: To investigate whether adherence post-kidney transplantation (KT) and patients' attitudes toward immunosuppression were influenced by their prior dialysis type modality.
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