Bacteriological profile of postoperative wound infection in orthopaedic surgery from deep and superficial wounds

Abstract

Postoperative wound infection is a major trouble in the surgical specialties, which leads to increased mortality, morbidity and economic burden. In most post-operative SSIs the causative pathogens originate from the normal flora present in the patient’s skin, mucous membranes or from the hollow viscera. Objectives of the present study were to study the frequency of various types of bacteria. The study was carried out in Raja's dental college andhospital, Thirurajapuram, Kavalkinaru, Tamilnadu. The samples from the 35 post-operative patients were evaluated for the study. Samples were taken from the patients during the period of surgical wound dressing before the wound was cleaned with antiseptic solution. The swab was examined by Gram staining and inoculated onto plates of MacConkey agar and 5% Sheep blood agar by rolling the swab over the agar and streaked. These plates were incubated at 37° C for 24-48 hours. The present microbiological study has determined the predominating bacteria responsible for the post-operative wound infections. There was predominance of commonly isolated bacterial species were S. aureus, P. aeruginosa and E. coli.