Resumen de Co infection of COVID 19 patients with atypical bacteria: A study based in Jordan
Ahmad R. Alsayed, Luai Hasoun, Heba A. Khader, Mahmoud S Abu-Samak, Laith MH Al-Shdifat, Basheer Al-Shaimari, Mohammed Al Maqbali
Objective: The aim of this work was to know the prevalence of Chlamydophila pneumoniae and Mycoplasma pneumoniae in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID 19) patients in Jordan. Also, to assess a TaqMan real time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay in detecting these two bacteria. Methods: This is a retrospective study performed over the last five months of the 2021. All nasopharyngeal specimens from COVID 19 patients were tested for C. pneumonia, and M. pneumoniae. The C. pneumoniae Pst 1 gene and M. pneumoniae P1 cytadhesin protein gene were the targets. Results: In this study, 14 out of 175 individuals with confirmed severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS CoV 2) infection (8.0%) were co infected with C. pneumoniae or M. pneumoniae. Co infection with SARS CoV 2 and C. pneumoniae was reported in 5 (2.9%) patients, while 9 (5.1%) patients had M. pneumoniae and SARS CoV 2 co infection. The mean (± std) of the correlation coefficient of the calibration curve for real time PCR analysis was –0.993 (± 0.001) for C. pneumoniae and –0.994 (± 0.003) for M. pneumoniae. The mean amplification efficiencies of C. pneumoniae and M. Pneumoniae were 187.62% and 136.86%, respectively. Conclusion: In this first study based in Jordan, patients infected with COVID 19 have a low rate of atypical bacterial co infection. However, clinicians should suspect co infections with both common and uncommon bacteria in COVID 19 patients. Large prospective investigations are needed to give additional insight on the true prevalence of these co infections and their impact on the clinical course of COVID 19 patients.
