Efficacy and Safety of Antibiotic Agents in Children with COVID-19: A Rapid Review

Jianjian Wang; Yuyi Tang; Yanfang Ma; Qi Zhou; Weiguo Li; Muna Baskota; Yinmei Yang; Xingmei Wang; Qingyuan Li; Xufei Luo; Toshio Fukuoka; Hyeong Sik Ahn; Myeong Soo Lee; Zhengxiu Luo; Enmei Liu; Yaolong Chen

4 a majority of the patients (58.0%) received intravenous antibiotic therapy (12). Moreover, multiple case series and a cohort study of SARS patients testified that the proportion of patients receiving antibiotic agents used in the absence of a confirmed bacterial coinfection was between 50.0% and 100.0%, among whom 50.0% to 96.0% were treated with a combination of several antibiotic agents. The use of antibiotics over a long duration and in combinations of multiple agents not only showed no efficacy to the disease progress, but also caused complications such as potentially fatal secondary infections (13-18). However, some authors have argued that prophylactic use of antibiotics in the early stage can play a role in preventing infections in SARS patients (19) . One study on SARS patients reported one patient recovered after receiving antibacterial treatment alone, and the condition of other patients improved after comprehensive treatment including antibiotics (20).