Özet:

OBJECTIVE: The COVID-19 pandemic has created a global public health crisis. Intensive Care Unit (ICU) patients with COVID-19 are more prone to bacterial and fungal infections due to various risk factors. We aimed to analyze the isolated factors of antibiotic consumption in the ICU by comparing the antibiotic use profile and trends in microbiological isolates before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Various clinical samples sent to the laboratory from ICU patients hospitalized during the COVID-19 period between March 2020 - February 2021 and before the COVID-19 period between March 2019-February 2020 were retrospectively analyzed. Etiological agents of bacterial and fungal infections were identified using the Vitek 2 identification method. RESULTS: A total of 733 samples were included in this study, comprising 666 samples from the 1-year period before COVID-19 and 67 samples of patients with symptoms consistent with COVID-19 during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and positive PCR test. In the one-year period before the pandemic, the most frequently isolated agent was Klebsiella pneumoniae with 23.5%, followed by Pseudomonas aeruginosa at 17.7% and Acinetobacter baumannii at 16.8%. During the first one-year period of the pandemic, the most frequently isolated agent was Acinetobacter baumannii at 35.8%, unlike the pre-COVID-19 period. This was followed respectively by Klebsiella pneumoniae at 16.4% and predominantly Gram-positive agents. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of concomitant bacterial/fungal infections and the diversity of agents in COVID 19 patients are unknown. We think that the comparison of the agents and their susceptibilities detected in this patient group with those detected in previous years will be useful in guiding empirical treatment.

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