Bacteriological Study of Post-Operative Wound Infections in a Tertiary Care Hospital

Out of 800 patients admitted for surgery 116 (14.5%) suffered from wound infections. Of these, 57 out of 277 (20.58%) were emergency surgery patients and 59 out of 523 (11.28%) were elective surgery. The infection rate was 32.2% in dirty wounds followed by 29.22% in contaminated wounds, 9.0% in clean-contaminated and 3.85% in clean wounds. There were significantly more infections in wounds with drains (21.79%) than without drains (10.37%) P<0.01). Only 8.37% with pre-operative antibiotic prophylaxis developed infection as compared to 24.83% without antibiotic prophylaxis. The bacterial profile showed polymicrobial flora comprising of Staphylococcus aureus (26.51%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (18.18%), Escherichia coli (15.9%), Klebsiella pneumoniae (11.36%), Coagulase negative Staphylococcus (6.81%), Bacteroides species (5.30%), Proteus mirabilis (4.54%), Beta Haemolytic Streptococci (3.78%), Peptococcus species (3.03%), Proteus vulgaris and Citrobacter species (2.27%) each. Both Gram positive and Gram negative bacterial isolates were multi drug resistant. Post-operative wound infections are a serious medical problem that has to be tackled due to its increased morbidity, mortality and medical care costs. An active surveillance program is recommended.