Association between Streptococcus pneumoniae And COVID-19 Co-infection in Patients with Severe Respiratory Diseases

Background: Streptococcus pneumoniae bacteria are Gram-positive, round to lancelet in morphology. Arranged in pairs (diplococci), they cause opportunistic infections when spread from the nasopharynx to other body locations, like typical pneumonia, septicemia, meningitis, and otitis media.Methodology: In this cross-sectional study, A hundred samples of sputum were taken at Baghdad teaching hospitals and other hospitals of the medical city from individuals suffering from respiratory tract infections. 50% of patients were diagnosed with pneumonia had COVID-19 positive. These samples were analyzed by several techniques (Gram stain, optochin sensitivity, and catalase, biofilm, and HiCrome agar as selective media), then cultured on Mueller-Hinton agar (M.H.) for antibiotic sensitivity. Conclusion: This study indicates the presence of highly resistant pneumococcus with multiple drug resistance (MDR) ability; the most effective antibiotic in this study was meropenem, which inhibits these bacterial pathogens.