A bstract Background: Diabetic foot ulcer (DFU) infections have been reported to be the most frequently occurring infections seen in over 25% of diabetics, especially among older patients with poor metabolic control. The variations in the pattern of microorganism susceptibility to different antimicrobial agents determine the outcome of infected foot ulcers. Hence, we need to determine the antimicrobial sensitivity pattern of DFUs in this region. Materials and Methods: This was a retrospective cross-sectional study conducted to determine the antimicrobial sensitivity pattern at a tertiary care center in Lagos over 24 months. Information on patients’ clinical and biochemical results of wound swabs culture and sensitivities and the radiological findings of foot ulcers were retrieved from patients’ case records. The level of statistical significance was defined as P < 0.05 at a 95% confidence interval. Results: The records of 100 adults with DFUs who were treated between February 2017 and February 2019 were retrieved for this study, out of which 29 (29.0%) were prescribed antimicrobials. Most (71.0%) patients had uncontrolled diabetes and were diagnosed less than a year before the study (81.0%). Eighty-five per cent (85.0%) of the wound swabs cultured yielded organisms. The two most isolated organisms were Klebsiella species (26.0%) and Proteus species (17.0%), while metronidazole (99.0%) and cefuroxime (12.0%) were the most used antimicrobials. It was observed that an antimicrobial agent was sensitive to multiple organisms of the same species. Conclusion: This study shows that about four in five of the DFUs was infected. This study showed that Gram-negative bacteria is responsible for most of the DFUs in this center, and this spectrum of bacteria showed good response to metronidazole and cefuroxime during management.
Amisu et al. (Mon,) studied this question.