Bacterial and fungal coinfections among patients with COVID-19 in Zanjan, Northwest of Iran; a single-center observational with meta-analysis of the literature

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: There is a poor understanding about the prevalence and characteristics of secondary bacterial and fungal infections among Coronavirus diseases 2019 (COVID-19) superinfection in hospitalized patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Four hundred COVID-19-proven patients were enrolled in this study. Nasal swabs for molecular assay (Real-time PCR) and sputum samples for further microbiological assays were collected. Following a broad-spectrum search, a meta-analysis was performed using StatsDirect software (version 2.7.9) according to the DerSimonian and Laird method applying the random-effects models. RESULTS: Streptococcus spp. (21.5%) and Staphylococcus spp. (16.7%) had the highest prevalence of bacterial coinfection among the COVID-19 patients, while Acinetobacter spp. had the lowest prevalence (4.2%). Among fungal coinfections, Candida albicans was the most prevalent (6.7%), and Aspergillus spp. was the lowest (2%). Males, elderly patients, patients with a history of underlying diseases and drug use, patients who showed acute clinical symptoms, and patients with a prolonged hospital stay had a higher incidence of secondary infections (P-value <0.05). The pooled prevalence for bacterial and fungal coinfections was 33.52% (95% CI: 18.12 to 50.98; I(2): 99.4%; P-value: <0.0001). CONCLUSION: We suggest designing additional research with a larger target population and diagnostic molecular analyses to depict a more realistic view of the coinfection status.