BACTERIAL INFECTION AND ANTIMICROBIAL SUSCEPTIBILITSY TEST (AST) PATTERNS AMONG CONFIRMED SARS COV-2 INDIVIDUAL IN SOUTHWESTERN NIGERIA.

Abstract

Antimicrobial medications were given to patients with this illness without antimicrobial susceptibility since recent statistics on SARS-C0V-2 showed that bacterial infection increased mortality rate and lowered clearance rate of the virus. The goal of this study was to detect co-infecting pathogen(s) and analyze their antibiotic resistance profiles in confirmed SARS-CoV-2 cases in Oyo State, Nigeria. 400 symptomatic and asymptomatic infected individuals had their nasopharynx sampled, and structured questionnaires were given out to identify risk factors for SARS-CoV-2 infection. Using API 20E and VITEK 2.0 ID cards, isolates were recognized after being collected using conventional microbiological techniques. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was done using VITEK 2.0 AST card kits and Kirby Bauer disc diffusion techniques. The Enterobacteriaceae family had a large number of the observed bacteria. The COVID-19 cases treated with azithromycin, which is more resistant to Gram positive bacteria, had a higher resistance rate (66.6%). However, bacterial isolates have significantly higher quinolone susceptibility (89.0%). Some of the microbiological isolates identified in individuals with SARS-CoV-2 infection were multidrug resistant, including Azithromycin. This discovery raises serious health concerns and requires additional investigation.