Antibiotics and antimicrobial resistance in the COVID-19 era: Perspective from resource-limited settings

The dissemination of COVID-19 around the globe has been followed by an increased consumption of antibiotics. This is related to the concern for bacterial superinfection in COVID-19 patients. The identification of bacterial pathogens is challenging in low and middle income countries (LMIC), as there are no readily-available and cost-effective clinical or biological markers that can effectively discriminate between bacterial and viral infections. Fortunately, faced with the threat of COVID-19 spread, there has been a growing awareness of the importance of antimicrobial stewardship programs, as well as infection prevention and control measures that could help reduce the microbial load and hence circulation of pathogens, with a reduction in dissemination of antimicrobial resistance. These measures should be improved particularly in developing countries. Studies need to be conducted to evaluate the worldwide evolution of antimicrobial resistance during the COVID-19 pandemic, because pathogens do not respect borders. This issue takes on even greater importance in developing countries, where data on resistance patterns are scarce, conditions for infectious pathogen transmission are optimal, and treatment resources are suboptimal.

Abstract licence: CC BY-NC-ND

1. 11.

   Antimicrobial resistance in Africa: a systematic review · 2017

2. 12.

   Outpatient Antibiotic Prescribing for Acute Respiratory Infections During Influenza Seasons · 2018

3. 14.

   Respiratory Viral Infection-Induced Microbiome Alterations and Secondary Bacterial Pneumonia · 2018

4. 31.

   Hydroxychloroquine in patients with mainly mild to moderate coronavirus disease 2019: open label, randomised controlled trial · 2020

5. 40.

   Tackling antimicrobial resistance in the COVID-19 pandemic · 2020

35 more references, whose wording the paper’s licence keeps private.

A person counts once a day per paper. We keep no cookie and no address: a reader is a hash that changes every day. Any month under five reads shows no number.