Pattern of pathogens from surgical wound infections in a Nigerian hospital and their antimicrobial susceptibility profiles.

BACKGROUND 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. SETTING AND METHODS 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. RESULTS 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. CONCLUSIONS 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.