Antibiotic resistance is one of the greatest growing public health threats and a worldwide priority. According to the WHO, drug-resistant diseases may cause 10 million deaths a year by 2050 and have a substantial impact on the global economy, driving up to 24 million people into poverty. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the fallacies and vulnerability of healthcare systems worldwide, displacing resources from existing programs and reducing funding for antimicrobial resistance (AMR) fighting efforts. Moreover, as already seen for other respiratory viruses, such as flu, COVID-19 is often associated with superinfections, prolonged hospital stays, and increased ICU admissions, further aggravating healthcare disruption. These events are accompanied by widespread antibiotic use, misuse, and inappropriate compliance with standard procedures with a potential long-term impact on AMR. Still, COVID-19-related measures such as increasing personal and environmental hygiene, social distancing, and decreasing hospital admissions could theoretically help the AMR cause. However, several reports have shown increased antimicrobial resistance during the COVID-19 pandemic. This narrative review focuses on this “twindemic”, assessing the current knowledge of antimicrobial resistance in the COVID-19 era with a focus on bloodstream infections and provides insights into the lessons learned in the COVID-19 field that could be applied to antimicrobial stewardship initiatives.

Long-acting lipoglycopeptides (LGPs), such as dalbavancin and oritavancin, are semisynthetic antibiotics known for their strong effectiveness against a wide array of Gram-positive bacteria. This includes Staphylococcus aureus, both methicillin-sensitive (MSSA) and methicillin-resistant (MRSA) strains, coagulase-negative Staphylococci (CoNS), streptococci, and vancomycin-sensitive Enterococcus faecalis. A literature search was conducted on PubMed and on ClinicalTrials.gov to identify articles published until July 2023 investigating the use of oritavancin and dalbavancin in clinical practice. The review included case reports, case series, observational studies, and clinical studies. Although more consistent data are needed, LGPs seem to be a good alternative that may provide a quicker hospital discharge and reduce long-term intravenous access and therapy. This is attributed to their unique pharmacologic and pharmacokinetic characteristics. More quality data (i.e., number of patients treated with clinical success) are needed before clinicians may use these therapies more widely.

An Ivorian woman presented to us with a 2-month history of fever, abdominal pain and nausea. Human immunodeficiency virus serology was positive. Abdominal ultrasound showed enlarged abdominal lymph nodes and wall thickening of the right colon. Colonic biopsy was suggestive of fungal infection and polymerase chain reaction for Histoplasma capsulatum on biopsy was positive.

Tuberculous lymphadenitis is one of the most common extrapulmonary manifestation of tuberculosis. Lymphadenitis due to Listeria monocytogenes is rarely described. We present a case of a 59-year-old woman from Mexico presented to the Emergency Department with a 2-week history of erythematous and painful swelling in the right retromandibular area. An ultrasound-guided bedside needle aspiration of the lump was performed by an infectious diseases specialist and a diagnosis of Listeria monocytogenes and tuberculous coinfection was done. To our knowledge this is the first case of tuberculous and Listeria-associated lymphadenitis.