Incidence of SARS-CoV-2 Co-infections During the Second Wave in Sub-Himalayan Region, India.

ABSTRACT

Introduction The second wave of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in India, which started from April 2021, has been more severe and deadly than the first wave. The aim of this prospective study was to determine the possibility of other respiratory pathogens contributing towards the severity and hospitalization in the current second wave. Materials and methods Nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal swab samples were collected and processed for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). These samples were further processed for detection of co-infection in SARS CoV-2 patients by BioFire® Filmarray® 2.0 (bioMérieux, USA). Results We screened 77 COVID-19-positive patients admitted to All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Rishikesh and found cases of co-infections in five (6.49 %) patients. Conclusion Our finding suggests that co-infections had no or minimal role in augmenting the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in India, and the emergence of new variants may be the probable cause.