What happened during COVID-19 in African ICUs? An observational study of pulmonary co-infections, superinfections, and mortality in Morocco

BACKGROUND: There is a growing literature showing that critically ill COVID-19 patients have an increased risk of pulmonary co-infections and superinfections. However, studies in developing countries, especially African countries, are lacking. The objective was to describe the prevalence of bacterial co-infections and superinfections in critically ill adults with severe COVID-19 pneumonia in Morocco, the micro-organisms involved, and the impact of these infections on survival. METHODS: This retrospective study included severe COVID-19 patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) between April 2020 and April 2021. The diagnosis of pulmonary co-infections and superinfections was based on the identification of pathogens from lower respiratory tract samples. Co-infection was defined as the identification of a respiratory pathogen, diagnosed concurrently with SARS-Cov2 pneumonia. Superinfections include hospital-acquired pneumonia (HAP) and ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP). A multivariate regression analysis was performed to identify factors independently associated with mortality. RESULTS: Data from 155 patients were analyzed. The median age was 68 years [62–72] with 87% of patients being male. A large proportion of patients (68%) received antibiotics before ICU admission. Regarding ventilatory management, the majority of patients (88%) underwent non-invasive ventilation (NIV). Sixty-five patients (42%) were placed under invasive mechanical ventilation, mostly after failure of NIV. The prevalence of co-infections, HAP and VAP was respectively 4%, 12% and 40% (64 VAP/1000 ventilation days). The most isolated pathogens were Enterobacterales for HAP and Acinetobacter sp. for VAP. The proportion of extra-drug resistant (XDR) bacteria was 78% for Acinetobacter sp. and 24% for Enterobacterales. Overall ICU mortality in this cohort was 64.5%. Patients with superinfection showed a higher risk of death (OR = 6.4, 95% CI: 1.8–22; p = 0.004). CONCLUSIONS: In this single-ICU Moroccan COVID-19 cohort, bacterial co-infections were relatively uncommon. Conversely, high rates of superinfections were observed, with an increased frequency of antimicrobial resistance. Patients with superinfections showed a higher risk of death.