Infectious disease specialist Dr. Maria Rhona G. Bergantin underscores COVID-19 patients’ susceptibility to co-infection when exposed to a healthcare setting, particularly when intubated.
Dr. Bergantin, a member of the Philippine Society for Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Inc., explains that when a person’s immune system is weakened due to existing ailments, aside from SARS-CoV2, other pathogens such as bacteria may try to gain entry into the patient’s body, and if it does, will result to a bacterial co-infection.
The risk, according to the expert, increases in severe patients needed to be intubated, wherein a long plastic tube is inserted into the patient’s windpipe to assist in their breathing.
Among the most susceptible to this condition, Dr. Bergantin states, are those with chronic co-morbid conditions or those who have repeatedly visited hospitals and healthcare centers due to their unstable health.
“Patients with pulmonary diseases, who undergo dialysis or cancer-related therapies, or even those with recurrent or repeated antibiotic use are susceptible to bacterial co-infections,” she explains.
Because healthcare workers and medical practitioners are still working to understand how the novel coronavirus behaves and how bacterial co-infections work in tandem with it, Dr. Bergantin adds that “doctors may tend to perform a shotgun approach and prescribe antibiotics as well.”
With this prescription comes another healthcare concern that merits close attention.
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR), or the resistance of microorganisms to antimicrobial medicines it was once sensitive to, has been touted as a global health concern. It is when antibiotics no longer “work” for a particular infection.
Even before the outbreak of COVID-19, antibiotic resistance has been already present due to misuse, unnecessarily prolonged duration, wrong drug or wrong dosage, self-diagnosis and self-prescription by patients, consumption of products from animals who have been treated with antibiotics, and chronic antibiotic use due to recurrent health conditions.
Dr. Bergantin suggests patients and doctors should work together to contribute to the solution.
For patients who are otherwise healthy but are showing flu-like symptoms, she points to the government’s set guidelines of strict at-home monitoring, timely reporting to proper health officials, and telehealth consultation with doctors.
She reminds fellow medical practitioners that, “although there is only a 7-10 percent chance of acquiring a bacterial co-infection, watch your patient closely. Each patient is unique and their immune systems might act dissimilarly. Zero in on the most vulnerable.”
Healthcare organizations are also stepping up to find solutions to this challenge, in collaboration with the medical community.
“Over the years, MSD has been a trusted collaborator of medical organizations and hospitals to implement Antimicrobial Stewardship programs,” says Dr. Cesar Recto II, medical director of MSD Philippines. “Decreasing AMR would mean giving the present population and future generations a fighting chance to combat infections.”