1Associate Professor, Dept. of Microbiology, Vydehi Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre, Bangalore
2Professor and Head, Dept. of Microbiology, Vydehi Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre, Bangalore
*Corresponding author: Girish N, E-mail girishdasanur@yahoo.co.in
Online published on 21 March, 2015.
Surgical site infections (SSI) are the second most common type of hospital acquired infections after urinary tract infections. It has been estimated that SSI develop in 2% of hospitalized patients undergoing operative procedures, although this is a likely underestimate because of incomplete post discharge data. The increasing incidence of SSI with antibiotic-resistant bacteria further complicates the issue. Although the risk for acquiring SSI exists worldwide, the risk and impact are likely to be higher in resource-constrained settings where compliance with standard recommendations for infection prevention and control is generally not optimal.
The exudates (pus) samples over a period of one year (August 2013-July 2014) were obtained from patients in the General surgery department, VIMS & RC, who have developed signs and symptoms of SSI. When the infection was clinically suspected, the area around the surgical wound was cleaned with 70% ethyl alcohol and the exudates were collected from the depth of the wound using two sterile cotton swabs and transported immediately to the laboratory for further processing according to the standard procedures.
The overall SSI rate was 12.9%. SSI rate was 4.3% in clean surgeries, and 41.7% in clean contaminated surgeries. S.aureus was the commonest bacteria followed by P.aeruginosa. Gram positive isolates were 100% sensitive to Vancomycin and Gram negative for Carbapenams.
SSI is more common in clean contaminated wounds with infection caused by both multidrug resistant gram positive and gram negative bacteria.
SSI, clean and clean-contaminated surgeries, S. aureus, P. aeruginosa
