Bacteriological Study of Post-Operative Wound Infections in a Tertiary Care Hospital

Abstract

Out of 800 patients admitted for surgery 116 (14.5%) suffered from wound infections. Of these, 57 out of 277 (20.58%) were emergency surgery patients and 59 out of 523 (11.28%) were elective surgery. The infection rate was 32.2% in dirty wounds followed by 29.22% in contaminated wounds, 9.0% in clean-contaminated and 3.85% in clean wounds. There were significantly more infections in wounds with drains (21.79%) than without drains (10.37%) P<0.01). Only 8.37% with pre-operative antibiotic prophylaxis developed infection as compared to 24.83% without antibiotic prophylaxis. The bacterial profile showed polymicrobial flora comprising of Staphylococcus aureus (26.51%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (18.18%), Escherichia coli (15.9%), Klebsiella pneumoniae (11.36%), Coagulase negative Staphylococcus (6.81%), Bacteroides species (5.30%), Proteus mirabilis (4.54%), Beta Haemolytic Streptococci (3.78%), Peptococcus species (3.03%), Proteus vulgaris and Citrobacter species (2.27%) each. Both Gram positive and Gram negative bacterial isolates were multi drug resistant. Post-operative wound infections are a serious medical problem that has to be tackled due to its increased morbidity, mortality and medical care costs. An active surveillance program is recommended.

Bacteriological study of surgical site infections in a tertiary care hospital at Miraj, Maharashtra state, India

“…The frequency of isolates of Staphylococcus aureus from infected surgical wounds reported by other researchers was in the range of 19-75%. 11,14,15,19,20 Enterococcus species Among catalase negative organisms, 6.2% were Enterococci in the present study while that reported by other authors ranged from 0.06-7.1%. 13,14,19 β haemolytic Streptococci Streptococcus spp was isolated from 3 cases (Table 1).…”

“…4,11,14,15 The present study showed 7.6% of isolates were that of Citrobacter spp (12 C. freundii and 4 C. diversus). Other studies from Nagpur and New Delhi have reported frequencies of 2.27% and 4.1%, respectively.…”

“…The prevalence of pathogen varies from place to place and hospital to hospital. 11 Periodic studies carried out in the same hospital over a number of years would provide more reliable information.…”

“…Our finding correlates with the frequencies (7.5-21%) reported by other studies. 4,11,14,15,19 There were 14 isolates of Klebsiella pneumoniae and 2 of Klebsiella oxytoca (Table 1).…”

“…Other studies from Nagpur and New Delhi have reported frequencies of 2.27% and 4.1%, respectively. 11,13 Of the isolates of Proteus spp, P. mirabilis and P. vulgaris comprised 8 (3.8%) and 6 (2.8%), respectively (Table 1). Other studies have reported the frequency of Proteus spp.…”