Khadijah Yousef AL-Aali
The major challenge for a burn team is nosocomial infection in burn patients, which is known to cause over 50% of burn deaths, and represents a serious health problem in burn wound patients,Taif, Sudia Arabia.
Aim: To determine Microbial Profile of Burn Wound Infections in Burn Patients,Taif, Saudi Arabia.
Method: 220 patients were included in the study. Woundswab cultures were assessed at day 4. Two hundred and twenty sampling procedures (surface swabs) were performed from the burn wounds.
Result: The study revealed that bacterial infection at least once reached 100% by the end of the 4th week of admission. Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae and coagulase negative Staphylococci were the most frequently isolated organisms, each representing 20.2%, followed by Pseudomonas aeruginosa 14.6% and E. coli 10.1%. Fungi were found to cause burn wound invasion late during the second week post burn, with the highest incidence during the fourth week, reaching 36% by the end of the 4th week of admission. Candida spp. (66.7%). The susceptibility pattern of 745 bacteria isolated against 20 antimicrobial agents. All strains were susceptible to all antibiotic; resistance was observed in some strains.
Conclusion: This would enable early treatment of imminent septic episodes with proper empirical systemic antibiotics, without waiting for culture results, thus improving the overall infection related morbidity and mortality.
