Infección asociada a la atención en salud por Raoultella Ornithinolytica en paciente con diagnóstico de COVID – 19 en el Hospital José Carrasco Arteaga: reporte de caso

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: The pandemic caused by COVID-19 has resulted in a collapse in health systems worldwide. The clinic can be varied from asymptomatic cases to severe cases; being one of its complications nosocomial infections, which are common in patients who are in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). It has been evidenced that infection by Raoultella Ornithinolytica is extremely rare in humans. A predisposing factor is a prolonged hospitalization in the ICU because this bacterium can survive a hospital environment, and its severe virulence and drug resistance have been compared with the genus Klebsiella spp.

CASE DESCRIPTION: A 54-year-old male patient was admitted for diagnosis of respiratory failure with a positive nasopharyngeal swab for COVID-19. He was admitted to the ICU and remained on mechanical ventilation. Blood culture samples were taken on days 2 and 9 of hospitalization, the latter being where Raoultella Ornithinolytica, Klebsiella Oxytoca, and Serratia Marcescens with multidrug-resistant mechanisms were isolated. Antibiotic therapy was started; however, the patient presented hemodynamic instability and died.

CONCLUSION: Secondary infections to COVID-19 decrease the survival of patients, especially those in the ICU. The detection of superinfection by R. Ornithinolytica is a challenge in medical practice because it is a bacterium with an infrequent occurrence, so its diagnosis and treatment represent a challenge.