Secondary bacterial infection rates among patients with COVID-19

Objective The aim of this study was to determine the factors and rates of secondary bacterial infections developed in patients after the diagnosis of COVID-19 and antimicrobial susceptibility to guide the empirical treatment and contribute to epidemiological data. Materials and Methods In our study, 1,055 patients diagnosed with COVID-19, hospitalized at Recep Tayyip Erdogan University Training and Research Hospital, Rize, between the dates March 24, 2020 and December 31, 2020, were recruited. The diagnoses of all patients were confirmed by positive SARS-CoV-2 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests. In addition, the blood and respiratory tract cultures of the patients recruited in the study were analyzed retrospectively. Results Ninety-two (8.7%) patients were found to have microbiologically proven respiratory or circulatory tract infections via microbial culture results. Respiratory tract infections were detected as monomicrobial in 44 patients and as polymicrobial in 17 patients, among a total of 61 patients. In addition, 59 (64.1%) patients were male patients, and 33 (35.9%) were female patients. Among the microorganisms grown in blood cultures, coagulase-negative staphylococci with a percentage of 31% and Acinetobacter baumannii with a percentage of 27.5% were prominent. In respiratory tract cultures, A. baumannii constitutes the majority with a percentage of 33.3%, followed by Staphylococcus aureus and Klebsiella pneumoniae with a percentage of 9.5% each. The most resistant bacteria were A. baumannii, resistant to all antibiotics other than colistin. Conclusion Secondary bacterial infection rates in patients with COVID-19 are lower than influenza pandemic. However, the frequency of empirical antibiotics use seems relatively high

Inhibition of methotrexate induced toxicity in the adult rat spleen by adalimumab

Methotrexate (MTX) has been in use for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), psoriasis, and cancer since 1948. Its toxic side effects on tissues and organs have been well documented but splenotoxicity has not been addressed. This study set out to investigate this issue by examining the effectiveness of anti-TNF alpha agents against MTX-induced toxicity in T lymphocytes and macrophages via the regulation of CD3, CD68, and CD200R. Twenty-four Sprague Dawley rats were allocated to three groups: control (received saline solution only), MTX (20 mg/kg of single-dose of MTX), and Ada + MTX (single dose of 10 mg/kg Adalimumab before MTX administration). The spleens were removed 5 days after MTX administration. The number of CD3+/mm3 cells for the control, MTX and Ada + MTX groups were, respectively, 2.69 +/- 0.86, 20.51 +/- 2.7, (p = 0.000) and 11.07 +/- 2.01 (p = 0.000). The number of CD68+ macrophages/mm3 in the control, MTX and Ada + MTX groups were, respectively, 8.62 +/- 1.08, 38.19 +/- 1.37 (p = 0.000), and 16.87 +/- 12.57 (p = 0.000). The number of macrophages that were CD200R+/mm3 in the control, MTX, and Ada + MTX groups were 3.33 +/- 1.66, 25.77 +/- 2.37 (p = 0.000), and 8.68 +/- 2.66 (p = 0.000), respectively. We also observed that Ada reduced the numerical densities of these cells following MTX administration (p < 0.05). Ada may, therefore, be a promising candidate for the prevention of the deleterious effects on T lymphocytes and macrophages of MTX-induced toxicit