Abstract
In surgical patients, infection is an important cause of morbidity and mortality. A prospective study to find the pattern of microorganisms responsible for post operative wound infections and their antibiotic susceptibility profile was therefore conducted. Surgical wards in Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital Complex, Ile-Ife, Nigeria. Isolation, identification and antimicrobial susceptibility screening of organisms were done employing standard microbiological techniques. Bacterial pathogens were isolated from all the specimens while the yeast Candida species (spp) was isolated from 12.4%. Staphylococcus aureus was the most frequent organism isolated accounting for 23 (18.3%) of a total of 126 isolates. Other organisms were Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Bacillus spp 11.1% each; Escherichia coli 10.3%; Candida spp 8.7%; Coagulase negative staphylococci 8.7%; Pseudomonas spp 6.3%; Serratia odorifera 4.7%; Bacteroides 4.0%; Enterococcus spp 3.2%; the remaining isolates were other enterobacteria. Sensitivity of the bacterial isolates to antibiotics varied. In general, resistance to the β-lactam antibiotics was above 98%, whilst more than 70% of isolates were resistant to erythromycin, fusidic acid and tobramycin. The infections were polymicrobic and multidrug resistant. The quinolones, ciprofloxacin and ofloxacin, should be used as frontline drugs in the management of surgical wound infections at the hospital.
Highlights
In spite of the progress in surgery, surgical techniques and antibiotic prophylaxis[1,2,3], postoperative infections remain the commonest postoperative complications and one of the most frequently encountered nosocomial infections worldwide[4,5]
It is concluded that surgical wound infections in this health institution were polymicrobic in nature and, in most cases, associated with S. aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, E. coli and other pathogens
Of all the antibiotics tested, ciprofloxacin was shown to be the one most likely to be effective in treating infections as, in contrast to other antimicrobial agents tested in this study, less than 30% of the bacterial isolates were found to be resistant to its activity
Summary
In spite of the progress in surgery, surgical techniques and antibiotic prophylaxis[1,2,3], postoperative infections remain the commonest postoperative complications and one of the most frequently encountered nosocomial infections worldwide[4,5]. The incidence of these infections has been estimated to be 15.45% and 11.32% by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) USA and the UK Nosocomial Infection Surveillance respectively[6].
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