Medical News Today recently reported on a study published in The Lancet Microbe, which investigated the use of antimicrobials among COVID-19 patients that were hospitalized in the United Kingdom. With antimicrobial resistance being a global health concern, current U.K. guidelines caution against using antimicrobial therapy without specific evidence of a bacterial infection.
The study analyzed 50,000 COVID-19 patients that were admitted to hospitals in England, Scotland, and Wales during the first wave of the pandemic in 2020. Approximately 18% of these patients were evaluated for microbiological infections upon admission, however 37% of patients had received antimicrobials before they were even admitted to the hospital. And despite the lack of evidence of bacterial infections, ultimately 85% of these patients received antimicrobials during their hospital stay. Dr. Antonia Ho, co-author of the study, states “Given the unprecedented challenges posed by the pandemic, particularly during its early stages, when admitted patients were very sick, effective treatments were limited, and the role of possible coinfections [was] unknown, it is unsurprising that doctors would prescribe antimicrobials.”
Adopting antimicrobial stewardship, or the optimization of the use of antibiotics in treating infections and limiting antibiotic resistance, for COVID-19 patients will help slow the antimicrobial resistance crisis. Dr. Ho adds, “Since antimicrobial resistance remains one of the biggest public health challenges of our time, measures to combat it are essential to help ensure that these lifesaving medicines remain an effective treatment for infection in years to come.”
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