Surgical Site Infection in a Teaching Hospital: A Prospective Study

To investigate the risk factors for surgical site infection together with the identification of the etiological pathogens and their antimicrobial susceptibility at King Khalid University Hospital, King Saud University, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. A prospective case series study conducted at King Khalid University Hospital to all patients admitted to the surgical wards during the period between January 1st and September 30th 2007. The demographic data, diagnostic criteria, associated risk factors and laboratory data including gram stain, culture results and antimicrobial susceptibility of swabs from the surgical sites were collected. Out of the one hundred and thirty one patients recruited in the study, nine patients showed evidence of sepsis yielding an infection rate of 6.8%. Emergency operations and associated diabetes showed significantly higher rates of infection compared to their counterparts. The most commonly isolated bacteria were: E. coli, Pseudomonas aurigenosa and Staphylococcus aureus. The rate of surgical site infection was 6.8% which was comparable to that reported literature. E. coli was the most commonly isolated bacteria. Neither MRSA nor Acinetobacter species were common isolates. The rate of infection in diabetics and those who underwent emergency operations was significantly higher than others. Other comorbidities did not directly affect the rate of surgical site infection in our series.