Bacterial secondary infection ICU during COVID pandemic
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The epidemiology and impact of bacterial secondary infections and antimicrobial resistance on Intensive Care during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.
IRAS ID
316633
Contact name
Lim Jones
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Public Health Wales
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 5 months, 31 days
Research summary
Bacterial infections acquired in hospital are an important cause of illness, increased hospital stay, extended treatment and death. Such infections are preventable and more frequent in severely ill patients, especially on Intensive Care Units (ICUs). These patients are vulnerable due to severity of illness, the body’s reduced ability to fight infection and use of medical devices. Bacterial infections are treated with antibiotics, but treatment failure occurs if the bacteria are antibiotic resistant, a globally increasing trend. Antibiotic resistant bacteria commonly cause hospital acquired infections especially in the sickest patients. Bacteria can spread between patients on hands of carers, medical devices and by contamination from the hospital environment. During the pandemic ICU patients often require support for COVID related lung damage and are vulnerable to further infections. Patients often receive broad-spectrum antibiotics (covering the broadest range of bacteria) early in their admission and overuse can drive up rates of antibiotic resistance, leading to future treatment failure. Other changes to ICU management during the pandemic could influence antibiotic resistance through a change in type of bacteria colonising (present on or within the patient’s body without causing infection) or infecting (causing disease). These include: type of patients admitted (eg more with COVID), use of infection control precautions, increased patient numbers and use of immune suppressing drugs. Surveillance (sampling to understand bacteria present on units) and clinical sampling (analysing samples to establish cause of infection) is performed routinely, and antibiotic prescribing guidance and infection control is co-ordinated through specialist doctors/nurses. This study aims to collect all such data plus provide antibiotic susceptibility data for all isolates collected during the pandemic and pre-pandemic periods. We aim to establish if antibiotic resistance has increased/decreased during the pandemic and determine a causal link between antibiotic usage, infection control measures and ICU factors.
REC name
N/A
REC reference
N/A