Cultured Bacteria in the Abdominal Wall Incision During the Realisation of Caesarean Section in Cows: A Preliminary Study

Abstract

Although caesarean section (CS) is a common surgery, the bacteria contaminating the abdominal incision during this operation are not documented. This study aimed to enhance perioperative antibiotic therapy and reduce post-operative surgical site infections by describing the bacteria contaminating the abdominal incision during CS. Bacterial culture was performed on swabs sampled from the abdominal incision (muscular layers) of 23 cows during the realisation of CS. Bacteriology was positive in 6/22 samples. while 16/22 were negative (p = 0.03), and one sample was contaminated. All identified bacteria were aerobic, and 8/14 isolates were Gram-positive and 6/14 were Gram-negative (p = 0.7). The most encountered species were Acinetobacter spp., Aerococcus viridans, Neisseria spp. and Streptococcus spp.; other species were isolated only once. The abdominal incision of elective CS can be contaminated by ubiquitous aerobic Gram-positive and Gram-negative species coming from the environment. This contamination might be avoided by using a better aseptic protocol and by improving the conditions in which CSs are performed. However, more samples are required, and antibiotic susceptibility determination is needed to identify the adequate pre-operative antibiotic.

Keywords

• caesarean section
• bacterial culture
• abdominal incision contamination
• wound infection