Epidemiology, Bacteriological Profile, and Antibiotic Sensitivity Pattern of Burn Wounds in the Burn Unit of a Tertiary Care Hospital

Introduction: Burn wounds are commonly infected by organisms which delay wound healing. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate the flora obtained from wounds of burn patients in order to determine the most effective treatment. The aim of this study was to determine the frequencies of various bacteria isolated from burn wounds and to determine their antimicrobial susceptibility. Materials and methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted from January 2018 to November 2018 which included consecutive samples of burn wounds from patients admitted to the burn ward of a tertiary care hospital. Bacteria and their antimicrobial susceptibility were determined by swab cultures and sensitivity tests by standard aseptic techniques. Data were analysed via the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), v23.0 (IBM SPSS Statistics, Armonk, NY). Chi-square tests were applied between qualitative variables, while the Kruskal-Wallis test was applied to compare the means of asymmetrical data. Bacterial isolates and their susceptibility pattern were represented as frequencies and pie charts. Results: A total of 178 samples were obtained from 109 patients from burn wounds. One hundred and twenty-two wounds (68.5%) showed growth and 56 (31.4%) showed no growth after 24 hours of incubation. Positive cultures were significantly more frequent in wounds of greater than one-week duration (p < 0.002). Out of 158 bacterial isolates, the most common isolate was Pseudomonas aeruginosa - 41 specimens (24.91%), followed by Staphylococcus aureus - 38 specimens (24.05%), Acinetobacter - 27 (17.09%), Klebsiella - 24 (15.19%), Escherichia coli - 13 (8.23%), Proteus - 7 (4.43%), other coliforms - 6 (3.8%), Enterococcus - 1 (0.63%), and Enterobacter - 1 (0.63%). Drug resistance to penicillin G, ampicillin, Augmentin, ceftazidime, cefotaxime, ceftriaxone, meropenem, and piperacillin+tazobactam was exceptionally high. Conclusion: The most common bacterial isolates are Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus. Piperacillin+tazobactam against Pseudomonas aeruginosa and vancomycin and linezolid against Staphylococcus aureus are highly effective and can be used as empirical therapies.