key: cord-1010569-fvlv67i5
authors: Bongiovanni, Marco; Barilaro, Giuseppe; Zanini, Umberto; Giuliani, Giuseppe
title: Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on multidrug-resistant hospital-acquired bacterial infections
date: 2022-03-01
journal: J Hosp Infect
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhin.2022.02.015
sha: 54ee8b38e1ae55fc557b630edea6d03867676f1a
doc_id: 1010569
cord_uid: fvlv67i5

nan

We read with attention the paper by de Carvalho et al. [1] that was recently published in this Journal. The authors evaluated the incidence of carbapenem-resistant Gram-negative bacteria in device-associated infections between 2019 and 2020 and correlated their findings with the incidence and the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, they found a significant increase in Acinetobacter baumannii infections in 2020 compared to 2019, and a consequent increase in the empiric prescription of polymyxins. To date, the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the occurrence of multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria has been evaluated in several reports [2] [3] [4] [5] ; in particular, the longer duration of antimicrobial therapy for the management of respiratory complications of COVID-19 infection may have a devastating impact on infection control, leading to possible outbreaks of MDR bacteria in hospitals. Further, data on the increased incidence of specific MDR Enterobacterales (e.g. Table 1 ). These data demonstrate that the COVID-19 pandemic led to a significant increase in MDR hospital-acquired bacterial infections, specifically CRAB, carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales and VRE.

Our data were from a single hospital based in Lombardy, an area where the prevalence of MDR bacteria was very high even before COVID-19 pandemic. Either of these factors may partially explain the differences between our results and those from other geographical areas, where the incidence of MDR HAI declined during COVID-19 period [4, 6, 8] .

Nevertheless, our data show the potential for MDR bacteria to cause infections in COVID-19 patients. The infective complications due to prolonged hospitalization and immunesuppression in these patients may cause a further worsening of their prognosis.

On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest. 

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