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 beta-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.