Bacteriology of Wound Infections and Antibiotic Susceptibility Pattern of the Isolates

Wound infection has always been a major complication of surgery and trauma. The aim of our study was to determine the bacteriology of wound infections and to study the antibiotic susceptibility pattern of the isolates. The study was conducted in tertiary care hospital, Erode. The design of the study was a prospective type. Pus swabs / specimens were collected from hospitalized patients who developed wound infections. Bacterial pathogens were identified by conventional biochemical methods according to standard microbiological techniques. Antimicrobial susceptibility was performed on Muller – Hinton agar by the standard disk diffusion method. The incidence of wound infection was more common in males (63%) than in females (37%). Out of 100 culture positive samples, 61 samples were collected from diabetic ulcer patients, 20 samples were from ulcer patients, and 19 samples were from post operative patients. Of the 100 samples (culture positive), 71% collected samples showed mono-microbial growth, 29% showed two type of microbial growth. The prevalence of S. aureus (62.87%) from different wound infections was found to be high, followed by E.coli (48.65%), Klebsiella (30.21%), Pseudomonas (22.16%). Organisms showed diversity in the sensitivity pattern towards the antibiotics tested. High level of sensitivity was observed to Imipenem, Piperacillin tazobactum and Amikacin. High level of resistance was observed to Cephalosporins and Penicillin derivatives. We concluded that the sensitivity pattern of the antibiotics is not based on the infection site but on the type of organisms. This study gives us an insight to the current state of causative pathogens and their sensitivity to different antibiotics used in tertiary care hospital, Erode. The data of this study may be used to determine trends in antimicrobial susceptibilities and to modify antibiotic policy of the Hospital.