Background Bloodstream infections (BSIs) are an emerging cause of significant morbidity and mortality in severe Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). We aimed to assess the prevalence, clinical profile and outcome of BSIs in critically ill COVID-19 patients. Methods This was a single-centre retrospective study conducted at a tertiary care hospital in Western India. All patients (age > 18 years) with reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) confirmed COVID-19 admitted in the intensive care unit (ICU) were included. Hospital electronic records were searched for demographic data, time of bloodstream infection since admission, clinical profile, antimicrobial resistance pattern and clinical outcome of all patients who developed BSIs. Results Out of 750 patients admitted in COVID ICU, 8.5% developed secondary BSIs. All severe COVID-19 patients who developed BSIs succumbed to illness. A significant proportion of BSIs were Gram-negative pathogens (53/64, 82.8%). Acinetobacter baumannii was the commonest isolate, followed by Klebsiella pneumoniae (32.8% and 21.9%, respectively). Multidrug-resistance organisms (MDRO) were found in 57.8% of the cases. The majority of MDRO belonged to K. pneumoniae and Enterococcus groups. The proportion of Gram-negative bacteria resistant to carbapenems was 47.2% (25/53). On multivariate analysis, raised total leukocyte counts, mechanical ventilation and presence of comorbidities were significantly associated with the incidence of BSIs. Conclusion We found a significant prevalence of Acinetobacter baumannii in COVID-19 associated BSIs. The presence of comorbidities raised leukocyte counts and mechanical ventilation should alarm clinicians for possible BSIs. The timely initiation of empirical antibiotics and rapid de-escalation is vital to improve the outcome. At the same time, strict compliance of infection control practices should be accomplished to reduce the occurrence of MDRO.

Background: Bloodstream infections (BSIs) are emerging cause of significant morbidity and mortality in severe Corona virus disease (Covid-19). We aimed to assess the prevalence, clinical profile and outcome of BSIs in critically ill Covid-19 disease. Material and Methods: This was a single-centre retrospective study conducted at a tertiary care hospital in Western India. All the patients (age >18 years) with reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) confirmed Covid-19 pneumonia admitted in Covid intensive care unit (ICU) between September 2020 to February 2021 were included. Hospital electronic records were searched for demographic data, time of bloodstream infection since admission, clinical profile, antimicrobial resistance pattern and clinical outcome of all patients who developed BSIs.Results: Out of 750 patients admitted in Covid ICU, 8.5% developed secondary BSIs. All severe Covid-19 pneumonia patients developed BSIs succumbed to illness. The major proportion of BSIs were gram-negative pathogens (53/64, 82.8%). Acinetobacter baumannii was the commonest isolate followed by Klebsiella pneumoniae (32.8% and 21.9% respectively). Multidrug-resistance microorganisms (MDRO) were found in 57.8% of the cases. The majority of MDRO belonged to K. pneumoniae and Enterococcus groups. The proportion of gram-negative bacteria resistant to carbapenems was 47.2% (25/53). Conclusion: BSIs in severe Covid-19 patients carries a substantial mortality, which is a cause for concern. Timely initiation of empirical antibiotics and prompt de-escalation are vital to improve the outcome. At the same time, strict compliance of infection control practices should be accomplished to reduce the occurrence of MDRO.

Introduction: COVID-19 is a highly infectious disease and varies in the severity of presentation as well as survival outcome due to varied inflammatory responses. Hence, the present study is aimed to evaluate the role of inflammatory markers in predicting the outcome of COVID-19 in hospitalized patients.Methods: A total of 272 confirmed COVID-19 patients were included in the study. Clinical and demographic data were collected. Biochemical, hematological, and inflammatory markers were assessed in all patients. Disease severity and primary outcome as survival and or mortality were recorded.Results: Hematological indices and inflammatory markers were significantly higher among the non-survivors. can differentiate non-survivors from survivors with 100% sensitivity and 70.2% specificity, with a cut-off value of 79.6 in the receiver operator curve (ROC). As disease severity was increasing, IL-6 and C-reactive protein (CRP) were significantly increased among patients. Survival Inflammatory markers In CoVID-19 outCome analysis showed that an elevated level of IL-6 was significantly associated with mortality and Cox regression analysis showed the hazard ratio (HR) of . Conclusion:The results of the present study implicate that increased levels of IL-6 and CRP were significantly correlated with severity and mortality in COVID-19 patients. In addition, the dynamic measurement of neutrophil-to-lymphocyte (N/L) ratio, might be used as predictors of prognosis and outcome.

Background Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a double stranded DNA virus and ubiquitous in nature. Association of Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS) and CMV is well known but CMV acute myositis is a rare condition. Restriction of movements of limbs due to severe pain in myositis may obscure the diagnosis of GBS and this may easily miss. Case presentation Here we describe a 29-year-old male presenting with pain and swelling of bilateral lower limbs which progressed rapidly with increasing serum creatine kinase levels with positive IgM CMV antibodies. In view of no improvement in clinical condition, patient was further evaluated and found to have concurrent GBS. He was treated with plasmapheresis and improved. Conclusion Cytomegalovirus infection presenting as acute myositis is a uncommon and further association with GBS is a rare occurrence.