Profile of Secondary Bacterial Respiratory Infections in H1N1 Patients Admitted in a Tertiary Care Centre - A Four-year Retrospective Study

BACKGROUND: H1N1 is known to cause periodic seasonal flu in the Indian subcontinent since 2009. The clinical course and the underlying immunity of the host contribute to the development of secondary bacterial infections in the infected patients. OBJECTIVES: This study aims to analyze the secondary bacterial infections in confirmed H1N1 cases admitted in our hospital (from 2015 to 2018) with respect to the comorbidities, complications, associated bacteria with its antibiotic susceptibility pattern, and the outcome of such episodes. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Data of 164 patients admitted in a tertiary care hospital with H1N1 was extracted from medical records using a semi-structured case report form. Data were entered and analyzed with SPSS version 17. A p-value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: Most patients were aged above 40 years with female preponderance. In our study, 42% of patients had comorbidities. Only 14 (8.53%) had secondary bacterial infection confirmed by culture. Klebsiella pneumoniae and Acinetobacter baumannii were the most common bacteria that were isolated. They were treated based on the culture reports. There was no mortality in patients with a secondary bacterial infection. CONCLUSION: The early start of the antiviral agents and adherence to the antibiotic policy of the hospital contributed to lower secondary bacterial infections and zero mortality.