Aerobic bacteriology of burn wound infections

Abstract

Introduction: Burn wound infections are important cause of mortality, morbidity and prolonged hospitalization in burn patients as the causative agent is generally a multidrug resistant organism. The pattern of microbial flora infecting burn wound varies according to geographical pattern as well as with duration of hospital stay. Objective: The present study aims to identify the causative agents of burn wound infections in our hospital, to assess the change in pattern of flora in accordance to duration of wound as well as to determine the sensitivity pattern of isolates. Materials and Methods: Wound swabs from 52 patients admitted in Burn unit of IMS and SUM Hospital, Bhubaneswar were collected every 5th day during their hospital stays and were cultured. The results were interpreted according to the standard methods and antibiotic susceptibility pattern was noted. Results: The most common organism isolated was Staphylococcus aureus, that is, 20 (47.6%) while Klebsiella spp. 12 (28.6%) was the most common Gram-negative isolate. The commonest organism isolated in the 1st week of hospital stay was S. aureus (15.4%), but it was Acinetobacter spp. (22.2%) in 2nd week and coagulase negative Staphylococcus in 3rd week of hospital stay S. aureus was mostly sensitive to levofloxacin (77.8%) and netilmycin (98%). Conclusion: The pattern of bacterial flora changes according to duration of hospital stay. Effective strict isolation techniques and infection control are thus needed to decrease the occurrence of burn wound infection.

Keywords

• Antibiotic resistance
• bacteria
• burn wounds
• infection