Microbiology of postoperative wound infection: a prospective study of 1770 wounds.
A prospective study of postoperative wound infection was carried out over a 12-month period. Intra-operative swabs from the patients' anterior nares, the opened viscus and parietes were cultured using standard bacteriological techniques. Of the 1770 wounds studied, 167 (9.4%) became infected. Wound infection rates, according to clinical wound types, were clean 5.9%, clean-contaminated 10.7%, contaminated 24.3% and dirty 52.9%. The figures according to microbiological wound types were clean 4.7%, and potentially, lightly and heavily contaminated 15.3%, 22.1% and 30.2% respectively. The commonest causative organisms were Staphylococcus aureus 23.7%, Escherichia coli 16.9%, Staphylococcus epidermidis 13.5% and Pseudomonas aeruginosa 13.0%. When isolated intra-operatively, Enterobacter spp., Proteus spp., Klebsiella spp. and P. aeruginosa appeared to have a high probability of causing postoperative wound infection, but the intra-operative isolation of Bacteroides sp. was a poor predictor of subsequent wound infection.
Department of Microbiology, King Fahd Hospital of the University, Al-Khobar, Saudi Arabia.
K
K
Twum-Danso
C
C
Grant
S A
SA
al-Suleiman
S
S
Abdel-Khader
M S
MS
al-Awami
H
H
al-Breiki
S
S
Taha
A A
AA
Ashoor
L
L
Wosornu
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004927:Escherichia coli Infections / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006090:Gram-Negative Bacteria / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006094:Gram-Positive Bacteria / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007432:Intraoperative Period; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011552:Pseudomonas Infections / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012529:Saudi Arabia; D013203:Staphylococcal Infections / Q000453:epidemiology*; D013530:Surgical Wound Infection / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology*