Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia in patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection

Objectives The aim was to compare the incidence of Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia in COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 adult patients during the pandemic period versus the previous two years. Also, we described the characteristics of both cohorts of patients in pandemic period to find differences. Material and methods Retrospective study in our tertiary-care centre reviewing S. aureus bacteremia episodes in COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 patients through clinical records and the Microbiology Department database. Results In 2018 and 2019, the incidence of S. aureus bacteremia episodes was 1.95 and 1.63 per 1000 admissions respectively. In the pandemic period, global incidence was 1.96 episodes per 1000 non-COVID-19 admissions and 10.59 episodes per 1000 COVID-19 admissions. A total of 241 bacteremia was registered during this pandemic period in 74 COVID-19 patients and in 167 non-COVID-19 patients. Methicillin resistance was detected in 32.4% and 13.8% of isolates from COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 patients respectively. In COVID-19 patients, mortality rates were significantly higher. Conclusions We showed a significantly high rates of S. aureus bacteremia incidence in COVID-19 patients and higher methicillin resistance and 15-day mortality rates than in non-COVID-19 patients.