14 - Implications of antibiotics and antimicrobial resistance development during COVID-19: questing genomic surveillance for a balancing act

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has jolted the health system globally and a paucity of specific drugs and/or vaccine hesitancy led clinicians to indiscriminately use antibiotics. Furthermore, during the early waves of the COVID-19 pandemic, several studies showcased the anti-SARS-CoV-2 efficacy of few antibiotics which further catapulted the idea of using them after emergency approval by the Food and Drug Authority (FDA). This nonjudicial use of antibiotics has unfortunately led to the evolution of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) as a silent pandemic. In this chapter, we describe the previous and recent studies highlighting several antibiotics that are either predicted to target the SARS-CoV-2 virus and/or shown to have efficacy in managing patients with COVID-19. We also discussed the negative implication of antibiotics during COVID-19 and why proper genomic surveillance is required to mitigate the development of AMR in the present and future pandemics.