Secondary Infections in Patients with COVID-19 and Review of the Literature: A Retrospective Study Conducted at University Hospital

Abstract

Secondary infections are among the main complications leading to high mortality in patients hospitalized with COVID-19. This study aimed to determine the prevalence, risk factors, etiological agents and antimicrobial resistance patterns of secondary infections that developed in patients with COVID-19. In the study, patients with a positive COVID-19 PCR test who developed secondary bacterial and fungal infections after 48 hours of hospitalization were included. The results of the bacterial and fungal cultures obtained from the clinical samples of the patients were retrospectively evaluated. At the end of this study, it was determined that 16.1% (n=43) of 267 hospitalized patients developed secondary infections. Secondary infections were detected more in males (n=28, 65.1%) than females (n=15, 34.9%) (p=0.024). The median age (65.0 years) of patients with secondary infection was found to be higher (p