Coinfections among hospitalized patients with covid-19 in the first pandemic wave

BACKGROUND: COVID19 is the novel respiratory illness caused by SARS-CoV-2. The presence of other potentially pathogenic microorganisms could worsen the prognosis of these patients. Aim: The study aims to describe coinfections in COVID-19 patients and contrast it between standard ward and critical care patients at Hospital Central de la Defensa Gómez Ulla (HCDGU). METHODS: A retrospective study was carried out of patients with COVID-19 confirmed with RTPCR admitted to the HCDGU from March 5, 2020 to May 7 of 2020. FINDINGS: Of a total of 703 patients with COVID-19, 75(10.7%) had other microbiologically confirmed infections: 9% (58/648) in standard ward patients and 31.5%(17/54) in critical care patients. In total 86 samples of the 75 patients presented some microorganism; clinically relevant bacteraemias, 50%, respiratory cultures, 32.6% and pneumococcal positive antigens, 17.4%. CONCLUSIONS: We found a low frequency of microorganism coinfection in COVID-19 patients, however in critical care these coinfections increased considerably.