Influenza co-infection associated with severity and mortality in COVID-19 patients.
Virol J
; 18(1): 127, 2021 06 14.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1269882
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
In COVID-19 patients, undetected co-infections may have severe clinical implications associated with increased hospitalization, varied treatment approaches and mortality. Therefore, we investigated the implications of viral and bacterial co-infection in COVID-19 clinical outcomes.METHODS:
Nasopharyngeal samples were obtained from 48 COVID-19 patients (29% ICU and 71% non-ICU) and screened for the presence of 24 respiratory pathogens using six multiplex PCR panels.RESULTS:
We found evidence of co-infection in 34 COVID-19 patients (71%). Influenza A H1N1 (n = 17), Chlamydia pneumoniae (n = 13) and human adenovirus (n = 10) were the most commonly detected pathogens. Viral co-infection was associated with increased ICU admission (r = 0.1) and higher mortality (OR 1.78, CI = 0.38-8.28) compared to bacterial co-infections (OR 0.44, CI = 0.08-2.45). Two thirds of COVID-19 critically ill patients who died, had a co-infection; and Influenza A H1N1 was the only pathogen for which a direct relationship with mortality was seen (r = 0.2).CONCLUSIONS:
Our study highlights the importance of screening for co-infecting viruses in COVID-19 patients, that could be the leading cause of disease severity and death. Given the high prevalence of Influenza co-infection in our study, increased coverage of flu vaccination is encouraged to mitigate the transmission of influenza virus during the on-going COVID-19 pandemic and reduce the risk of severe outcome and mortality.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Influenza, Human
/
Coinfection
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Diagnostic study
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Topics:
Vaccines
Limits:
Adult
/
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Country/Region as subject:
Asia
Language:
English
Journal:
Virol J
Journal subject:
Virology
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
S12985-021-01594-0
Similar
MEDLINE
...
LILACS
LIS