Vol.71 No.1 January 2023
Analysis of Antibiotic Administration and Bacteria identified in Sputum Cultures in Patients with COVID-19 Cases (a Single-Center Study)
1)Department of General Internal Medicine, Chidoribashi General Hospital, 5-18-1 Chiyo, Hakata-ku, Fukuoka, Japan
2)Division of Infectious Diseases, Chidoribashi General Hospital
Abstract
There are only a few reviews in the Japanese literature of bacterial coinfections in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Sputum cultures were obtained from patients with COVID-19 to identify coexisting bacterial infections. The subjects were all patients who were hospitalized at Chidoribashi General Hospital in Fukuoka city, Japan, between April 2020 and September 2021. Those who had received antimicrobial agents before the sputum examinations were excluded. Of the 133 patients in total, 53 received antibiotic therapy, and 45 of these patients underwent sputum examinations prior to the antibiotic therapy. Most of the patients with severe COVID-19 received antibiotic treatment (13/14 cases). Ceftriaxone was the most commonly administered antibiotic for the patients (45 cases). Significant results of sputum culture, including Staphylococcus aureus (15 cases) and Streptococcus constellatus ssp. constellatus (3 cases), were obtained in 26 patients. Among the 15 strains of S. aureus, 12 were methicillin-susceptible (MSSA), and 3 were methicillin-resistant (MRSA). Five patients in whom MSSA was identified recovered without antimicrobial therapy. All the three patients in whom MRSA was identified recovered with antimicrobials with no specific activity against MRSA. From our results and a review of the literature, we propose that routine antimicrobial therapy may not be required for hospitalized patients with COVID-19.
Key word
COVID-19, bacterial infection, antimicrobial agents, sputum culture
Received
January 21, 2022
Accepted
November 4, 2022
Jpn. J. Chemother. 71 (1): 91-98, 2023
