ABSTRACT
Introduction: Aim: •To identify the incidence of culture-positive sepsis in critically ill COVID-19 patients at our tertiary intensive care unit. •To categorize patients based on their comorbidities, the severity of illness and treatments underwent to see if there is any correlation toward their predisposition toward culturepositive sepsis. Materials and methods: We studied a total of 23 critically ill COVID- 19 patients admitted over a month retrospectively. We observed that there was no incidence of bloodstream infections in any of the patients during their stay in ICU. The incidence of blood culture testing for BSI was among 43% of the patients. VAP was not observed in any of them either when 21% of the patients underwent culture and sensitivity of their endotracheal aspirate. However, there were six patients with catheter-associated urinary tract infection accounting for nearly 26% of the patients, and the positivity rate was as high as 66% when tested. We observed a very low positivity rate for bloodstream infection and ventilator-associated pneumonia whereas a very high positivity rate for catheter-associated urinary tract infection. All the patients had antiviral drug therapy with remdesivir and steroid therapy during their stay in ICU. Use of procalcitonin to ascertain the presence of infection was also seen in at least 50% of the clinically suspected septic patients. Results: •In our cohort of critically ill COVID19 patients' the incidence of catheter associated urinary tract infection was very high •We also observed that there was surprisingly very low positivity rate for ventilator associated pneumonia and blood stream associated infections when cultures were undertaken •Though the positivity rate was low in tested samples, clinical decision to cover the episodes of suspected sepsis with antibacterial agents might be substantiated due to reduced mortality rate observed within our cohort of patients Discussions: Though the positivity rate was low in tested samples, the clinical decision to cover the episodes of suspected sepsis with antibacterial agents might be substantiated due to the reduced mortality rate observed within our cohort of patients. Conclusion: •In our cohort of critically ill COVID-19 patients, the incidence of catheter-associated urinary tract infection was very high. •We also observed that there was a surprisingly very low positivity rate for ventilator-associated pneumonia and bloodstream associated infections when cultures were undertaken. •Though the positivity rate was low in tested samples, the clinical decision to cover the episodes of suspected sepsis with antibacterial agents might be substantiated due to the reduced mortality rate observed within our cohort of patients.