title: Abdominal wound sepsis associated with gynaecological surgery at King Edward VIII Hospital, Durban.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To establish the prevalence of postoperative wound infection in major gynaecological surgery.
  
  
  METHODS
  King Edward VIII Hospital (KEH), a large urban referral hospital for the province of KwaZulu-Natal, serving an underprivileged population.
  
  
  METHODS
  A prospective study of postoperative wound sepsis in 270 patients who had had emergency and elective laparotomies. Data for each patient were obtained pre-operatively and during the postoperative period.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The prevalence of surgical wound sepsis was 11.9%. The wound sepsis rate in emergency, elective and semi-elective cases was 14.6%, 6.5% and 4% respectively. Twenty-three per cent of the patients were HIV-infected, and this group had a wound sepsis rate of 28.6% compared with 6.8% in HIV-negative cases (P = 0.03).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Surgical wound sepsis in major gynaecological surgery is common at KEH. HIV infection is associated with a high rate of wound sepsis.
authors.affiliation: Medical Research Council/University of Natal Pregnancy Hypertension Research Unit, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Nelson R Mandela Medical School, University of Natal, Durban.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Jjuuko
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Moodley
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003906:Developing Countries; D017558:Elective Surgical Procedures; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D005260:Female; D013509:Gynecologic Surgical Procedures / Q000009:adverse effects*; D006801:Humans; D007813:Laparotomy / Q000009:adverse effects*; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012306:Risk; D013019:South Africa; D013530:Surgical Wound Infection / Q000453:epidemiology*