A Prospective Study Of Surgical Site Infections In A Teaching Hospital
3114-3119
Correspondence
Dr. Mahesh C B, MD
Assistant professor,
Dept. of microbiology,
S. N. Medical college,
Bagalkot- 587101
Karnataka.
Ph:9945471374
Mail-baragundimc@rediffmail.com
Context: Surgical site infections (SSI) remain a significant problem following an operation and the third most frequently reported nosocomial infections. Aim: The current study was undertaken to identify aerobic pathogenic bacteria in SSI, to determine their antibiotic resistance pattern and to study the factors influencing SSI. Material and Methods: The prospective study was carried out on 418 surgeries. Samples from patients were collected by following all aseptic precautions and were processed without delay by the standard microbiological techniques. Chi square test was used for statistical analysis. Results and Conclusions: The overall infection rate was 20.09%. The SSI rate was 11.53% in clean surgeries, 23.33% in clean contaminated ones, 38.10% in contaminated ones and 57.14% in dirty surgeries. Male patients were affected more (21%) than the female patients (18.88%). The SSI rate increased with increasing age and it also increased significantly with the increasing duration of pre-operative hospitalization. The SSI rate was significantly less in patients who received pre-operative antibiotic prophylaxis. The SSI rate was significantly higher in emergency surgeries as compared to the elective surgeries. The infection rate was significantly higher as the order and the duration of the surgery increased. The most commonly isolated organism from surgical site infections was Staphylococcus aureus (34.44%), followed by Pseudomonas aerogenosa (26.22%) and other bacteria. Most of the organisms which were isolated were multidrug resistant. The high rate of resistance to many antibiotics underscored the need for a policy that could promote a more rational use of antibiotics.