Microbial profile of burn wound infections and their antibiotic sensitivity patterns at burn unit of allied hospital Faisalabad

Abstract

Microbial infection is the most common and serious complication of burn injury, which is a major cause of morbidity and mortality. The aim of this study was to determine the bacteriological profiles and the antibiotic sensitivity patterns in burn unit of Allied Hospital Faisalabad over a period of 1 year. During the study period, 393 samples were collected and cultured by conventional method. Disk diffusion method was used to determine the sensitivity/resistance pattern of the isolates. Results were analyzed using SPPS version 20. Out of 393, 332 (84.5%) cases were found to be culture positive. Microbial contamination of the burn wounds was significantly (p<0.05) higher in males (89.3%) as compared to females (78.1%), and in 3rd degree burns (92.2%) as compared to 2nd degree burns (80.8%). Out of 393 patients, 258 (65.6%) cases were of Staphylococcus aurous followed by 169 (43.0%) of Pseudomonas aeruginosa 79 (20.1%) of Klebsiella pneumoniae and 67 (17.0%) of Escherichia coli. Among 258 cases of S. aurous, 153 (59.3%) were MRSA and 105 (40.7%) were MSSA. A large proportion (92.8%) of MRSA was sensitive to techoplanin and exhibited high-level resistant (96.7%) to fusidic acid whereas, significant proportion (74.4%) of MSSA isolates showed resistant to fusidic acid. A zero resistance was noted in coagulase negative staphylococci to linezolide, vancomycin and teichoplanin.. Pseudomonas aeruginosa exhibited high level resistance to tobramycin (91.7%) and were mostly sensitive (93.5%) to cefipiem. Klebsiella penumoniae was most sensitive to meropenem (100%) and most resistant to tobramycin (63.3%). E. coli showed zero resistance cefipiem and a small proportion of isolates (14.9%) exhibited resistance to tobramycin. In conclusion, S. aurous and P. aeruginosa represented the most common bacterial microbes of burn wounds which exhibited variable antibiotic susceptibility pattern. This study revealed a high potential for multiple microorganism outbreaks and emergence of resistant pathogens in burn patients due to the lack of patient screening and extended empirical use of antibiotics