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The rise in antimicrobial resistance: An obscure issue in COVID-19 treatment

Yogendra Shrestha1, Ravi Kurikempannadoddi Shivalingegowda2, Melkote Jyotiprakash Avinash3

  • 1Department of Pharmacy Practice, Sri Adichunchanagiri College of Pharmacy, Adichunchanagiri University, B. G. Nagara, India.

PLOS Global Public Health
|March 24, 2023
PubMed

Insights

During pandemics, broad-spectrum antibiotics were overused in COVID-19 patients, leading to excessive quantities and reduced effectiveness against bacterial infections. This highlights a critical need for better antimicrobial stewardship and evidence-based treatments.

Area of Science:

  • Infectious Diseases
  • Microbiology
  • Public Health

Background:

  • Pandemics strain healthcare systems, often leading to suboptimal prescribing of antibiotics.
  • Lack of evidence-based antivirals and poor antimicrobial stewardship contribute to broad-spectrum antibiotic overuse.
  • COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated these issues, prompting investigation into antibiotic use in infected patients.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate antibiotic prescribing patterns in COVID-19 patients.
  • To assess the impact of these practices on antimicrobial resistance.
  • To evaluate the sensitivity of prescribed antibiotics against isolated bacterial pathogens.

Main Methods:

  • Prospective, cross-sectional study design.
  • Inclusion of 318 COVID-19 patients.
  • Antibiotic susceptibility testing using the disc diffusion method on 95 patient samples.

Main Results:

  • Antibiotics were prescribed in over 90% of all COVID-19 severity cases.
  • Bacterial growth confirmed in 58.95% of cultured samples, with E. coli being the most common.
  • Over 54.9% of detected antibiotics showed less than 50% sensitivity against the isolated bacteria.

Conclusions:

  • Antibiotics were frequently overprescribed in COVID-19 patients, irrespective of disease severity.
  • High rates of antibiotic use correlated with reduced sensitivity to common bacterial pathogens like E. coli.
  • Urgent need for improved antimicrobial stewardship and evidence-based treatment guidelines during pandemics to combat rising antimicrobial resistance.

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