Fungal Coinfections in COVID-19-Positive Patients at a Tertiary Care Hospital in Saudi Arabia | ||||
| Egyptian Journal of Medical Microbiology | ||||
| Volume 31, Issue 3, July 2022, Page 91-97 PDF (262.53 K) | ||||
| Document Type: New and original researches in the field of Microbiology. | ||||
| DOI: 10.21608/ejmm.2022.249267 | ||||
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| Authors | ||||
| Abdelrahman Elsawy* 1; Khalid Al-Quthami2; Hamdi Mustafa Al-Said3; Reem Allam4; Abdulmoin Al-Qarni5; Mohammed Shaikh6; Yahya Alzahrani6; Hind Khan1; Mawada Al-Kashkari1 | ||||
| 1Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt | ||||
| 2Department of Medical Microbiology, Alnoor Specialist Hospital, Makkah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia | ||||
| 3Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Umm Al-Qura | ||||
| 4Department of Clinical Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Zagazig University, Egypt | ||||
| 5Department of Infectious disease, Alnoor Specialist Hospital, Makkah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia | ||||
| 6Department of internal medicine, Alnoor Specialist Hospital, Makkah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia | ||||
| Abstract | ||||
| Background: Most coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients present with mild or moderate severity of the disease. However, disease comorbidities may require mechanical ventilation and intensive care (IC), which predispose COVID-19 patients to secondary opportunistic fungal infections. Objective: An observational retrospective cohort study was conducted to investigate the relationship between fungal coinfections and morbidity and mortality rates in patients with severe COVID-19 admitted to a tertiary hospital in Makkah, Saudi Arabia. Methodology: This work was conducted on 1,220 patients with COVID-19 admitted to a Saudi Tertiary Care Hospital in Makkah city from June 1, 2020, to May 30, 2021, to evaluate the existence of fungal infections. COVID-19 cases were confirmed by real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Statistical analysis was performed via SPSS version 22.0 (IBM, USA). Results: Of the 1,220 included samples, fungal coinfections were detected in 57 (4.7%) patients. Candida albicans was the major isolated strain in 39 (68.4%) patients, and the primary source of infection was sputum (40 patients: 70.2%). Most samples were isolated from the ICU (41 patients; 71.9%); bacteria coinfection was detected in 12 (21%) severely ill patients. Conclusion: Mindfulness of the plausibility of fungal coinfection is important to control infection and ultimately reduces the risk and the delay in diagnostic and treatment process. It will also guide the diagnostic tools in identifying high-risk patients and quickly determine the most appropriate interventions for reducing the possibility of infection besides morbidity and mortality rates. | ||||
| Keywords | ||||
| COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; fungal coinfections | ||||
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