Bacteriology of wound infections in the surgical wards of a teaching hospital in Enugu, Nigeria.

During a 24-month period, January 2001 - December 2002, 404 wound swabs from 390 patients made up of 280 from surgical wounds, 92 from ulcers and 32 from other wounds like lacerations and discharging sinuses were studied. The prevalence of bacterial organisms and their antibiotic susceptibility pattern was analyzed, using standard bacteriologic techniques. Two hundred and sixty four organisms (69.8%) were isolated from surgical wounds, 82 (21.7%) from ulcers and 32 (8.5%) from other wounds. Coliforms were the most predominant organisms in surgical wounds (63.5%), while puste in ulcers, proteus species were the most prevalent (37.2%). Multiple microbial infections were common (22.7% and 24.6%) in surgical wounds and ulcers respectively. Antibiotic resistance by the isolates to commonly used antibiotics like Ampicillin, Tetracycline, Cotrimoxazole was high. The isolates were most sensitive to Ciprofloxacin and Ofloxacin. Restriction of the use of broadspectrum antibiotics in the treatment of wound infections should be enforced, while better collaboration between the clinical microbiologist and surgeon should be practiced especially with respect to infective preventive measures.