African Journal of
Microbiology Research

  • Abbreviation: Afr. J. Microbiol. Res.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN: 1996-0808
  • DOI: 10.5897/AJMR
  • Start Year: 2007
  • Published Articles: 5239

Full Length Research Paper

Bacteria from infected surgical wounds and their antimicrobial resistance in Hawassa University Referral Teaching Hospital, Southern Ethiopia

Meseret Guta
  • Meseret Guta
  • Department of Biology, College of Natural Sciences, Jimma University, P.O.Box 378, Jimma, Ethiopia
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Kassaye Aragaw*
  • Kassaye Aragaw*
  • School of Veterinary Medicine, Hawassa University, P.O.Box 05, Hawassa, Ethiopia
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Yared Merid
  • Yared Merid
  • College of Health Sciences, Hawassa University, P.O.Box 05, Hawassa, Ethiopia
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  •  Received: 03 December 2013
  •  Accepted: 17 February 2014
  •  Published: 12 March 2014

Abstract

A study was carried out from November 2010 to June 2011 in Hawassa University Referral Teaching Hospital to identify bacterial species involved in post-operative wound infections and to determine their antimicrobial resistance pattern. The study involves 100 surgical patients with post-surgical wound infections. Swab samples of wound discharge were collected for bacteriological examination and inoculated on appropriate culture media. Isolates were identified and characterized by standard methods and antibiotic resistance was determined using the Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion method. A total of 177 bacterial isolates were identified in the study. The most dominant isolates were Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella spp., Escherichia coli and coagulase negative staphylococci (CoNS) accounting for 45 (25.4%), 32 (18.1%), 30 (16.9%) and 26 (14.7%) of the isolates respectively. Other bacteria isolated include Pseudomonas aeruginosa (9.0%), Proteus spp. (6.8%), Streptococci (5.1%), Citrobacter spp. (2.3%) and Enterobacter spp. (1.7%). Of the 177 isolates, 173 (97.7%) were resistant to at least 1 antimicrobial, while 164 (92.7%) were resistant to ≥2 antimicrobials. Resistance of isolated organisms was 76.3% to amoxicillin, 71.2% to penicillin, 56.9% to vancomycin, 39.5% to ceftriaxone and norfloxacin and 31.1% to gentamicin. The susceptibility of S. aureus was 64.4% to gentamicin but it was 100% resistant to amoxicillin.  All isolates of P. aeruginosa were resistant to penicillin and amoxicillin. The rate of resistance of S. aureus to 2 or more antimicrobials was 97.8% and that of P. aeruginosa was 100%. This study confirms that the bacteria commonly implicated in post-operative wound infections: S. aureus, Klebsiella, E. coli, CoNS, and P. aeruginosa, continued to dominate and have developed high level of drug resistance to some important antibiotics. Periodic surveillance of the species of bacteria involved in post-operative wound infection and determination of their antimicrobial resistance is recommended for empirical treatment.

 

Key words: Antimicrobial resistance, post-operative, surgical, wound infection, Ethiopia, Hawassa.