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Abstract We aimed to estimate the socioeconomic burden of pneumonia due to multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (MRAB) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (MRPA). We prospectively searched for MRAB and MRPA pneumonia cases and matched them with susceptible-organism pneumonia and non-infected patients from 10 hospitals. The matching criteria were: same principal diagnosis, same surgery or intervention during hospitalisation, age, sex, and admission date within 60 days. We calculated the economic burden by using the difference in hospital costs, the difference in caregiver costs, and the sum of productivity loss from an unexpected death. We identified 108 MRAB pneumonia [MRAB-P] and 28 MRPA pneumonia [MRPA-P] cases. The estimated number of annual MRAB-P and MRPA-P cases in South Korea were 1309–2483 and 339–644, with 485–920 and 133–253 deaths, respectively. The annual socioeconomic burden of MRAB-P and MRPA-P in South Korea was $64,549,723–122,533,585 and $15,241,883–28,994,008, respectively. The results revealed that MRAB-P and MRPA-P occurred in 1648–3127 patients, resulted in 618–1173 deaths, and caused a nationwide socioeconomic burden of $79,791,606–151,527,593. Multidrug-resistant organisms (MDRO) impose a great clinical and economic burden at a national level. Therefore, controlling the spread of MDRO will be an effective measure to reduce this burden.

Abstract This study aimed to evaluate the differences in clinical characteristics and impact of carbapenem resistance (CR) on outcomes between Acinetobacter baumannii (Ab) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (Pa) bacteraemia. We prospectively identified all patients with Ab and Pa bacteraemia in 10 hospitals over 1 year. Treatment failure was defined as all-cause 30-day mortality, persistent bacteraemia, or recurrent bacteraemia within 30 days. We included 304 Ab and 241 Pa bacteraemia cases. CR was detected in 216 patients (71%) with Ab bacteraemia and 55 patients (23%) with Pa bacteraemia. Treatment failure was significantly higher in CR-Ab than in CR-Pa (60.6% vs. 34.5%, P = 0.001). In Ab, severe sepsis or septic shock and high Pitt bacteraemia score were independent risk factors for treatment failure in the inappropriate empirical antibiotics group. In Pa, hospital-acquired infection and high Pitt bacteraemia score were independent risk factors for treatment failure in both groups. CR was an independent risk factor in Ab for treatment failure in both groups, but not in Pa bacteraemia. We demonstrated significant differences in clinical characteristics and impact of CR on clinical outcomes between Ab and Pa bacteraemia, suggesting that different treatment approaches may be needed.

Abstract We aimed to investigate the associations of previous influenza/URI with the susceptibility of COVID-19 patients compared to that of non-COVID-19 participants. A nationwide COVID-19 cohort database was collected by the Korea National Health Insurance Corporation. A total of 8,070 COVID-19 patients (1 January 2020 through 4 June 2020) were matched with 32,280 control participants. Severe COVID-19 morbidity was defined based on the treatment histories of the intensive care unit, invasive ventilation, and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation and death. The susceptibility/morbidity/mortality associated with prior histories of 1–14, 1–30, 1–90, 15–45, 15–90, and 31–90 days before COVID-19 onset were analyzed using conditional/unconditional logistic regression. Prior influenza infection was related to increased susceptibility to COVID-19 (adjusted odds ratio [95% confidence interval] = 3.07 [1.61–5.85] for 1–14 days and 1.91 [1.54–2.37] for 1–90 days). Prior URI was also associated with increased susceptibility to COVID-19 (6.95 [6.38–7.58] for 1–14 days, 4.99 [4.64–5.37] for 1–30 days, and 2.70 [2.55–2.86] for 1–90 days). COVID-19 morbidity was positively associated with influenza (3.64 [1.55–9.21] and 3.59 [1.42–9.05]) and URI (1.40 [1.11–1.78] and 1.28 [1.02–1.61]) at 1–14 days and 1–30 days, respectively. Overall, previous influenza/URI did not show an association with COVID-19 mortality. Previous influenza/URI histories were associated with increased COVID-19 susceptibility and morbidity. Our findings indicate why controlling influenza/URI is important during the COVID-19 pandemic.