Existing users Log In New users Sign up


COVID-19 and antimicrobial resistance in developing countries

DISCOVERIES (ISSN 2359-7232), 2021, April-June issue

CITATION: 

Arshad AR, Ijaz F, Siddiqui MS, Khalid S, Fatima A, Aftab RK. COVID-19 pandemic and antimicrobial resistance in developing countries. Discoveries 2021, 9(2): e127. DOI: 10.15190/d.2021.6


Submitted: February 22, 2021; Revised: April 23, 2021; Accepted: May 08, 2021; Published: June 30, 2021; 

 GO BACK to 2021, April-June issue

 GO BACK to DISCOVERIES

COVID-19 pandemic and antimicrobial resistance in developing countries

Abdul Rehman Arshad (1), Farhat Ijaz (1,*), Mishal Shan Siddiqui (2), Saad Khalid (2), Abeer Fatima (2), Rana Khurram Aftab (3)

(1) CMH Lahore Medical College and Institute of Dentistry, Abdur Rehman Road, Cantt, Lahore, Pakistan

(2) Dow Medical College, Dow University of Health Sciences, Mission Road, New Labour Colony Nankwara,

Karachi, Pakistan

(3) Punjab Institute of Cardiology, Lahore, Pakistan


*Corresponding authors: Dr. Farhat Ijaz, MBBS, MPhil, CHPE, FCPS, Assistant Professor, Department of Physiology, CMH Lahore Medical College and Institute of Dentistry, Lahore, Pakistan; Email: farhat_khurram_rana@cmhlahore.edu.pk

Abstract

A wide range of antimicrobial agents were touted as potential remedies during the COVID-19 pandemic. While both developed and developing countries have recorded an increase in the use of antimicrobial drugs, use and misuse have occurred to a far greater degree in developing countries. This can have deleterious consequences on antimicrobial resistance, especially when various developing countries have already reported the emergence of various drug-resistant organisms even before the pandemic. Telemedicine services, societal and cultural pressures, and bacterial co-infections can predispose to overwhelming antimicrobial prescriptions. The emergence of new multidrug resistance species is a major concern for the developing world especially since health services are already overburdened and lack the diagnostic capabilities and basic amenities for infection prevention and control. This can lead to outbreaks and the rampant spread of such microorganisms. Improper waste management and disposal from hospitals and communities establish freshwater runoffs as hubs of various microorganisms that can predispose to the rise of multidrug-resistant species. Microplastics' ability to act as vectors for antibiotic-resistant organisms is also particularly concerning for lower-middle-income countries. In this review, we aim to study the impact of antimicrobial use during the COVID-19 pandemic and antimicrobial resistance in lower middle-income countries, by understanding various determinants of resistance unique to the developing world and exploring solutions to combat the problem.

Access full text of the manuscript here: 

References

1. World Health Organization. Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19). Accessed on Jan 24, 2021. Available at:
www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019. 
2. Mirzaei R, Goodarzi P, Asadi M, Soltani A, Aljanabi HA, Jeda AS, et al. Bacterial co‐infections with SARS‐CoV‐2. IUBMB life. 2020;72(10):2097-111.
3. Langford BJ, So M, Raybardhan S, Leung V, Westwood D, MacFadden DR, et al. Bacterial co-infection and secondary infection in patients with COVID-19: a living rapid review and meta-analysis. Clinical Microbiology and Infection. 2020 Jul;26(12):1622-1629.
4. Holubar M. Antimicrobial resistance: a global public health emergency further exacerbated by international travel. J Travel Med. 2020;27(1):taz095
5. Rasheed F, Saeed M, Alikhan NF, Baker D, Khurshid M, Ainsworth EV, et al. Emergence of resistance to fluoroquinolones and third-generation cephalosporins in Salmonella Typhi in Lahore, Pakistan. Microorganisms. 2020 Sep;8(9):1336.
6. Getahun H, Smith I, Trivedi K, Paulin S, Balkhy HH. Tackling antimicrobial resistance in the COVID-19 pandemic. Bulletin of the World Health Organization. 2020 Jul 1;98(7):442.
7. Rossato L, Negrão FJ, Simionatto S. Could the COVID-19 pandemic aggravate antimicrobial resistance?. American Journal of Infection Control. 2020 Sep 1;48(9):1129-30.
8. Bengoechea JA, Bamford CG. SARS‐ CoV‐ 2, bacterial co‐ infections, and AMR: the deadly trio in COVID‐ 19?. EMBO molecular medicine. 2020 Jul 7;12(7):e12560.
9. Murray AK. The novel coronavirus covid-19 outbreak: global implications for antimicrobial resistance. Frontiers in microbiology. 2020;11:1020.
10. Iwu CJ, Jordan P, Jaja IF, Iwu CD, Wiysonge CS. Treatment of COVID-19: implications for antimicrobial resistance in Africa. The Pan African Medical Journal. 2020;35(Suppl 2).
11. Murni IK, Duke T, Kinney S, Daley AJ, Soenarto Y. Reducing hospital-acquired infections and improving the rational use of antibiotics in a developing country: an effectiveness study. Archives of disease in childhood. 2015 May 1;100(5):454-9.
12. Arshad AR, Bashir I, Tariq A, Ijaz F, Aftab RK, Farooq O. A Population Based Study on the Healthcare Seeking Behaviour During the COVID-19 Outbreak. Discoveries Reports. 2020;3:e14.
13. Nasir M, Salauddin Chowdhury AS, Zahan T. Self-medication during COVID-19 outbreak: a cross sectional online survey in Dhaka city. Int J Basic Clin Pharmacol. 2020 Sep;9(9):1325-30.
14. Godman B, Haque M, Islam S, Iqbal S, Urmi UL, Kamal ZM, et al. Rapid assessment of price instability and paucity of medicines and protection for COVID-19 across Asia: findings and public health implications for the future. Frontiers in public health. 2020;8.
15. Siemieniuk RA, Bartoszko JJ, Ge L, Zeraatkar D, Izcovich A, Kum E, et al. Drug treatments for covid-19: living systematic review and network meta-analysis. Bmj. 2020 Jul 30;370.
16. Fernández L, Cima-Cabal MD, Duarte AC, Rodriguez A, García P, García-Suárez MD. Developing Diagnostic and Therapeutic Approaches to Bacterial Infections for a New Era: Implications of Globalization. Antibiotics. 2020 Dec;9(12):916.
17. MacIntyre CR, Bui CM. Pandemics, public health emergencies and antimicrobial resistance-putting the threat in an epidemiologic and risk analysis context. Archives of Public Health. 2017 Dec;75(1):1-6.
18. Cilloni L, Fu H, Vesga JF, Dowdy D, Pretorius C, Ahmedov S, et al. The potential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the tuberculosis epidemic a modelling analysis. EClinicalMedicine. 2020 Nov 1;28:100603.
19. McQuaid CF, McCreesh N, Read JM, Sumner T, Houben RM, White RG, et al, CMMID COVID-19 Working Group. The potential impact of COVID-19-related disruption on tuberculosis burden. European Respiratory Journal. 2020 Aug 1;56(2).
20. World Health Organization. “Social Stigma associated with COVID-19”. Available from: https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/covid19-stigma-guide.pdf Accessed January 31, 2021
21. Jain VK, Iyengar KP, Samy DA, Vaishya R. Tuberculosis in the era of COVID-19 in India. Diabetes & Metabolic Syndrome: Clinical Research & Reviews. 2020 Sep 1;14(5):1439-43.
22. Marimuthu Y, Nagappa B, Sharma N, Basu S, Chopra KK. COVID-19 and tuberculosis: A mathematical model based forecasting in Delhi, India. Indian Journal of Tuberculosis. 2020 Apr 1;67(2):177-81.
23. Kochi A, Vareldzis B, Styblo K. Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis and its control. Research in microbiology. 1993 Jan 1;144(2):104-10.
24. Hernando-Amado S, Coque TM, Baquero F, Martínez JL. Antibiotic resistance: moving from individual health norms to social norms in one health and global health. Frontiers in Microbiology. 2020;11:1914.
25. World Health Organization “Clinical management of COVID-19.” Available at: https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/clinical-management-of-covid-19. Accessed 31 January 2021.
26. Rawson TM, Moore LS, Zhu N, Ranganathan N, Skolimowska K, Gilchrist M, et al. Bacterial and fungal coinfection in individuals with coronavirus: a rapid review to support COVID-19 antimicrobial prescribing. Clinical Infectious Diseases. 2020 Nov 1;71(9):2459-68.
27. Ray KN, Shi Z, Gidengil CA, Poon SJ, Uscher-Pines L, Mehrotra A. Antibiotic prescribing during pediatric direct- to-consumer telemedicine visits. Pediatrics. 2019 May 1;143(5).
28. Goncalves Mendes Neto A, Lo KB, Wattoo A, Salacup G, Pelayo J, DeJoy III R, et al. Bacterial infections and patterns of antibiotic use in patients with COVID‐ 19. Journal of Medical Virology. 2021;93(3):1489-1495.
29. Morens DM, Fauci AS. Emerging pandemic diseases: How we got to COVID-19. Cell. 2020;182(5):1077-1092.
30. Sabin NS, Calliope AS, Simpson SV, Arima H, Ito H, Nishimura T, et al. Implications of human activities for (re)emerging infectious diseases, including COVID-19. Journal of Physiological Anthropology. 2020 Dec;39(1):1-2.
31. Arastehfar A, Carvalho A, Nguyen MH, Hedayati MT, Netea MG, Perlin DS, et al. COVID-19-associated candidiasis (CAC): an underestimated complication in the absence of immunological predispositions?. Journal of Fungi. 2020 Dec;6(4):211.
32. Chowdhary A, Sharma A. The lurking scourge of multidrug resistant Candida auris in times of COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Global Antimicrobial Resistance. 2020 Sep;22:175-176.
33. Chowdhary A, Tarai B, Singh A, Sharma A. Multidrug-resistant Candida auris infections in critically Ill coronavirus disease patients, India, April–July 2020. Emerging Infectious Diseases. 2020 Nov;26(11):2694.
34. Porretta AD, Baggiani A, Arzilli G, Casigliani V, Mariotti T, Mariottini F, et al. Increased risk of acquisition of  New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase-producing carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (NDM-CRE) among a cohort of COVID-19 patients in a teaching hospital in Tuscany, Italy. Pathogens. 2020 Aug;9(8):635.
35. Cantón R, Gijón D, Ruiz-Garbajosa P. Antimicrobial resistance in ICUs: an update in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Current Opinion in Critical Care. 2020 Oct 1;26(5):433-41.
36. Gomez-Simmonds A, Annavajhala MK, McConville TH, Dietz DE, Shoucri SM, Laracy JC, et al. Carbapenemase- producing Enterobacterales causing secondary infections during the COVID-19 crisis at a New York City hospital. Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. 2021 Feb;76(2):380-4.
37. Perez S, Innes GK, Walters MS, Mehr J, Arias J, Greeley R, et al. Increase in hospital-acquired carbapenem- resistant Acinetobacter baumannii infection and colonization in an acute care hospital during a surge in COVID-19 admissions—new jersey, february–july 2020. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. 2020 Dec 4;69(48):1827.
38. Chen N, Zhou M, Dong X, Qu J, Gong F, Han Y, et al. Epidemiological and clinical characteristics of 99 cases of 2019 novel coronavirus pneumonia in Wuhan, China: a descriptive study. The lancet. 2020 Feb 15;395(10223):507-13.
39. Fattorini L, Creti R, Palma C, Pantosti A. Bacterial coinfections in COVID-19: an underestimated adversary. Annali dell'Istituto superiore di sanita. 2020 Sep 11;56(3):359-64.
40. Nieuwlaat R, Mbuagbaw L, Mertz D, Burrows L, Bowdish DM, Moja L, et al. COVID-19 and Antimicrobial Resistance: Parallel and Interacting Health Emergencies. Clinical Infectious Diseases. 2020 Jun 16;ciaa773.
41. Yam EL. COVID-19 will further exacerbate global antimicrobial resistance. Journal of Travel Medicine. 2020 Aug;27(6):taaa098.
42. Collignon P, Beggs JJ. CON: COVID-19 will not result in increased antimicrobial resistance prevalence. JAC-Antimicrobial Resistance. 2020 Sep;2(3): dlaa051.
43. Gwenzi W. Leaving no stone unturned in light of the COVID-19 faecal-oral hypothesis? A water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) perspective targeting low-income countries. Science of The Total Environment. 2020 Aug 20:141751.
44. Usman M, Farooq M, Hanna K. Environmental side effects of the injudicious use of antimicrobials in the era of COVID-19. Science of the Total Environment. 2020 Nov 25;745:141053.
45. Gudapuri L. Cross-resistance between antiseptic agents and antimicrobial agents. J Epidemiol Infect Dis Cross Resist. 2017;1(2):00009.
46. Joo SH, Choi H. Field grand challenge with emerging superbugs and the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) on plastics and in water. Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering. 2020 Nov 5:104721.
47. Berendonk TU, Manaia CM, Merlin C, Fatta-Kassinos D, Cytryn E, Walsh F, et al. Tackling antibiotic resistance: the environmental framework. Nature Reviews Microbiology. 2015 May;13(5):310-7.
48. Zhang D, Ling H, Huang X, Li J, Li W, Yi C, et al. Potential spreading risks and disinfection challenges of medical wastewater by the presence of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) viral RNA in septic tanks of Fangcang Hospital. Science of The Total Environment. 2020 Nov 1;741:140445.
49. Guerrero-Latorre L, Ballesteros I, Villacrés-Granda I, Granda MG, Freire-Paspuel B, Ríos-Touma B. SARS-CoV-2 in river water: Implications in low sanitation countries. Science of the Total environment. 2020 Nov 15;743:140832.
50. Zhang Y, Lu J, Wu J, Wang J, Luo Y. Potential risks of microplastics combined with superbugs: Enrichment of antibiotic resistant bacteria on the surface of microplastics in mariculture system. Ecotoxicology and environmental safety. 2020 Jan 15;187:109852.

News & Events Latest news from Discoveries

  • 2022, April| AWARDS!

    2022 Discoveries Award winning articles!

    - Kinal Bhatt et al. 2021 (Larking Health System, FL, USA); Bhatt K, Agolli A, Patel MH, et al. High mortality co-infections of COVID-19 patients: mucormycosis and other fungal infections. Discoveries. 2021;9(1):e126. 
    27 citations in the past 1 year - $1000 prize

    - Hasnain Jan et al. 2020 (Quaid-i-Azam University, Pakistan); Jan H, Faisal S, Khan A, et al. COVID-19: Review of Epidemiology and Potential Treatments Against 2019 Novel Coronavirus. Discoveries. 2020;8(2):e108. 
    23 citations in the past 2 years - $400 prize

    Congratulations! Prizes will be received by the awardees in July 2022!

  • 2021, July| 2021, Jul-September

    Due to the high volume of the submitted articles, both Discoveries and Discoveries Reports are experiencing processing and publication delays during the months of July-September 2021. We will get back to the normal processing and publication times starting in October 2021. Note that our editorial and administrativ work is fully funded by our publishing house at this time and we are striving to KEEP THE NO FEE/NO CHARGE strategy in place as long as possible. 

  • 2021, January| AWARDS!

    2022 DISCOVERIES AWARDS! Discoveries will offer $1000 and $400 awards in early 2022, for the most cited (2021 ISI Citations) and visible articles published in 2018-2021.

  • 2020, November| Follow us on Twitter!

    You can now follow the latest Discoveries news and updates on Twitter! (@DiscoveriesNews) 

  • 2020, August| For Authors!

    Due to a high volume of article submissions, our peer-review process takes more than usual. The pre-screening decision is released in 1-2 days, while the peer-review process lasts between 10 and 20 days.  

  • 2020, April | For Authors!

    WE DO NOT TOLERATE ANY MISCONDUCT! Please be aware that we are testing all received articles with specialized software for PLAGIARISM and WE WILL TAKE MEASURES if your article is already published or in consideration for publication by other journals! This may result in serious professional consequences for the authors. The latest striking case is the following article which is already published and was re-submitted here.  

  • 2020, April | For Authors!

    We are happy to let you know that all articles published in Discoveries are now included in PubMedCentral (PMC). New accepted articles will be included in PMC and PubMed within 1-2 weeks after their publication.

  • 2020, January | For Authors!

    Starting in January 2020, Discoveries will also consider articles submitted by Discoveries' Editorial Board members. However, only a small number of such articles (maximum 4 articles/year) will be considered for publication after the peer-review process, and the authors who are also our editors will be clearly disclosed on our website.  

  • 2019, September | Indexed by PMC

    Discoveries is now indexed by PubMedCentral and Pubmed. The agreement with US National Library of Medicine was signed on September 10, 2019. Our next step is ISI Web of Science indexing. NOTE: previously published articles will be included on PubMed in early 2020.

  • 2019, September | PubMed inclusion!

    We are happy to let you know that Discoveries successfuly passed the last step (Technical Review) required for PubMedCentral and PubMed inclusion!

  • 2019, July | PubMed inclusion News!

    We are happy to receive positive comments from PMC/NLM-NIH regarding Discoveries' last step (Technical Review) required for PubMedCentral and PubMed inclusion. We will let you know once whole indexing process is completed. 

  • 2019| Sharing and Distribution!

    All articles published in Discoveries are Open Access articles distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and it is not used for commercial purposes.

  • 2018-2019 | For Authors!

    From now on and for at least 1 year, we will only accept articles from authors that are NOT members of Discoveries' Editorial Board. All articles submitted by our editors will be immediately rejected until further notice (one accepted article was already rejected). 

  • 2018 | PubMed inclusion News!

    Discoveries successfully passed the Scientific Quality Review by NLM-NIH for PubMedCentral and PubMed indexing. This is the first and the most important step towards PubMedCentral and PubMed indexing! The second (last) step is the Technical Review.

  • 2016, April | Faster Peer-Review

    Starting on April 13th 2016, all articles selected for a peer-review will receive the post peer-review decision within ~10 days. The initial pre-screening time will remain the same (48h from the submission of the manuscript). This decision will significantly accelerate the publication, with no effect on the quality of the peer-review process.

  • 2016, February | Manuscript submission

    Discoveries is commited to excellence, quality and high editorial standards. We are receiving an increasing number of manuscripts for which the identity of the authors/corresponding author can't be verified. Please NOTE that ALL these articles were and will be immediately REJECTED. Indicating an institutional email address is the easiest way to overcome this problem! Moreover, we do not accept any pressure on our editorial board to accept a manuscript. This results in a prompt rejection of the article.

    Editorial Policies
  • 2016, January | Main Objective

    After reaching all proposed milestones until now (including being indexed by Google Scholar in 2014), Discoveries' next Aim is PubMed indexing of all its articles (already published and upcoming). There will be no charge for the submission or publication of articles before Discoveries is indexed.

  • 2015, August | Discoveries - on PubMed

    We are happy to announce that our first Discoveries articles were included in PMC and PubMed. More articles (submitted by NIH funded authors) are now processed for being included.

    Discoveries articles now on PubMed
  • 2015, April | Special Issue

    DISCOVERIES published the SPECIAL ISSUE entitled "INFLAMMATION BETWEEN DEFENSE AND DISEASE: Impact on Tissue Repair and Chronic Sickness".

    Special Issue on "Inflammation"
  • 2015 | Ischemia Collection

    DISCOVERIES launched a call for papers for a Collection of Articles with focus on "ISCHEMIA". If you are interested to submit a manuscript, please contact us at info@discoveriesjournals.org

  • 2014, September | Special Issue

    DISCOVERIES just publish the SPECIAL ISSUE entitled "CELL SECRETION & MEMBRANE FUSION" in September 2014. Initially scheduled for publication between October 2014-March 2015, this issue was successfully published earlier than scheduled. 

    Special Issue
  • 2014, April | Indexed by Google Scholar

    All our published articles are now indexed by Google Scholar! First citations to Discoveries articles are included! Search for the article's title (recommended) or the authors:

    Google Scholar Search
  • 2014 | DISCOVERIES

    DOIs (Digital Object Identifiers) are now assigned to all our published manuscripts in Discoveries. DOI uniquely identifies an article and is provided by CrossRef.

    CrossRef
  • 2013, July | Manuscript Submission

    Submit your manuscript FREE, FAST and EASY ! (in less than 1 minute)! There are NO fees for the manuscript submission or publishing of the accepted manuscripts.
    read more

  • 2013, July | DISCOVERIES

    We are now ACCEPTING MANUSCRIPTS for publishing in DISCOVERIES. We aim publishing a small number of high impact experimental articles & reviews (around 40/year) to maintain a high impact factor. Domains of interest: all areas related to Medicine, Biology and Chemistry ...

    read more
Member Login
Free Registration Click here to sign up
Copyright © 2013 Applied Systems. All Rights Reserved.