O-34 An assessment of sputum cultures in patients at the Infectious Disease Hospital in Guyana during the COVID-19 era
Author(s):
E Tyrell , A Lewis , E Rampersaud , Z Baird , B Ally- Charles , A Pearson , A Hutson , C Abrams , B Chester
Year of Presentation:
2024
Objective: To investigate the prevalence of bacteria and fungi from sputum cultures, obtained from COVID-19 patients from the Infectious Disease Hospital, and to determine antimicrobial susceptibility patterns.
Methods: A retrospective examination of laboratory records was conducted for 116 patients from March 2020-March 2023. Results from sputum cultures indicated the microorganism identified and antibiotic susceptibility testing (AST) results; and whether the patient was COVID positive or negative. Data were analysed to determine prevalence of bacteria and fungi, susceptibility patterns and to compare the susceptibility patterns to the COVID-19 status of the patients.
Results: A total of 186 isolates were observed, of which 146 (78.5%) were bacteria, 13 (7%) were fungi and the rest were normal flora. There were 58 COVID-19 positive patients and 58 COVID negative patients. Of the 159 identified pathogens, 86 (54.1%) were from COVID positive patients and 73 (45.9%) were from COVID negative patients; 146 (92%) were bacteria and 5 (8%) were Candida sp. No antifungal susceptibility testing was done. Klebsiella pneumoniae; Acinetobacter sp. and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were the most prevalent bacteria for both COVID positive and negative patients. In patients positive for COVID-19, K. pneumoniae was susceptible to gentamicin (70%) and ciprofloxacin (65.5%); and susceptible to imipenem (41%) for the negative cases. For COVID positive patients, Acinetobacter sp. was susceptible to piperacillin-tazobactam (66.7%) and imipenem (50%); and showed susceptibility to ceftazidime (60%) and ciprofloxacin (60%) in negative patients. For COVID-19 positive patients, P. aeruginosa was susceptible to piperacillin-tazobactam (56.5%) and in the negative cases, susceptibility was seen for gentamicin (45.8%) and ceftazidime (45.8%). Pairwise comparisons using Wilcoxon Rank Sum Test showed no statistical differences between susceptibility and COVID-19 status.
Conclusion: Our recommendations include rigorous epidemiological surveillance using our study as a template and sharing our findings with the Infection Control Committee and Pharmacy Department.