Abstract
Objectives: To investigate the seroprevalence of the community-acquired bacterial that causes atypical pneumonia among confirmed severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-COV-2) patients. Methods: In this cohort study, we retrospectively investigated the seroprevalence of Chlamydia pneumoniae , Mycoplasma pneumoniae , and Legionella pneumophila among randomly selected 189 confirmed COVID-19 patients at their time of hospital presentation via commercial immunoglobulin M (IgM) antibodies against these bacteria. We also carried out quantitative measurements of procalcitonin in patients’ serum. Results: The seropositivity for L. pneumophila was 12.6%, with significant distribution among patientsolder than 50 years (χ2 test, p =0.009), while those of M. pneumoniae was 6.3% and C. pneumoniae was 2.1%, indicating an overall co-infection rate of 21% among COVID-19 patients. No significant difference (χ2 test, p =0.628) in the distribution of bacterial co-infections existed between male and female patients. Procalcitonin positivity was confirmed amongst 5% of co-infected patients. Conclusion: Our study documented the seroprevalence of community-acquired bacteria co-infection among COVID-19 patients. In this study, procalcitonin was an inconclusive biomarker for non-severe bacterial co-infections among COVID-19 patients. Consideration and proper detection of community-acquired bacterial co-infection may minimize misdiagnosis during the current pandemic and positively reflect disease management and prognosis.
Article Type
Research Article
First Page
1000
Last Page
1006
Recommended Citation
Alhoufie, Sari T.; Ibrahim, Nadir A.; Alsharif, Naif H.; Alfarouk, Khalid O.; Makhdoom, Hatim M.; Aljabri, Khaled R.; Saeed, Sayed H.; Khoumaeys, Adnan A.; Almutawif, Yahya A.; Najim, Mustafa A.; Ali, Hamza M.; Aljifri, Alanoud A.; Kheyami, Ali M.; and Alhazmi, Areej A.
(2022)
"Seroprevalence of community-acquired atypical bacterial pneumonia among adult COVID-19 patients from a single center in Al Madinah Al Munawarah, Saudi Arabia: A retrospective cohort study,"
Saudi Medical Journal: Vol. 43:
Iss.
9, Article 4.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15537/smj.2022.43.9.20220379