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Latest Infectious Disease News<\/h3>\n
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THURSDAY, Sept. 3, 2020 (HealthDay News)<\/p>\n
When the coronavirus pandemic first spread across the United States this spring, most COVID-19<\/a> patients in Michigan were prescribed unneeded antibiotics, a new study indicates.<\/p>\n Antibiotics don’t work against viruses<\/a>, including the new coronavirus, and overuse of antibiotics can contribute to antibiotic resistance<\/a> worldwide.<\/p>\n For the study, researchers analyzed data from more than 1,700 patients with suspected COVID-19<\/a> who were admitted to 38 Michigan hospitals in March and April, when the state was one of the pandemic hotspots in the country.<\/p>\n More than half of the patients were given antibiotics soon after arrival in case they had a bacterial infection in addition to the coronavirus. But tests showed that 96.5% of those patients only had COVID-19<\/a>.<\/p>\n The 3.5% of patients who had a bacterial infection as well as the new coronavirus were more likely to die, according to the study published online recently in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases<\/i>.<\/p>\n Faster testing and understanding of infection risk factors could help doctors identify patients with both types of infections and spare other COVID-19<\/a> patients the risks associated with the overuse of antibiotics, the researchers said.<\/p>\n The use of antibiotics varied widely between hospitals, the investigators found. In some, only one-fourth of patients received them within two days of admission, while nearly all patients received antibiotics in other hospitals.<\/p>\n As COVID-19<\/a> test turnaround time shortened, the use of antibiotics fell, but was still too high, according to study author Dr. Valerie Vaughn, a hospitalist physician who helped launch Michigan Medicine’s COVID-19<\/a> intensive care units.<\/p>\n “For every patient who eventually tested positive for both SARS<\/a>-CoV-2 [the virus that causes COVID-19] and a co-occurring bacterial infection that was present on their arrival, 20 other patients received antibiotics but turned out not to need them,” Vaughn said in a university news release.<\/p>\n “These data show the crucial importance of early and appropriate testing, with rapid turnaround, to ensure appropriate use of antibiotics and reduce unneeded harm,” Vaughn added.<\/p>\n — Robert Preidt<\/p>\n![\"MedicalNews\"](\"https:\/\/images.medicinenet.com\/images\/HealthDay\/healthday.png\")
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