Bacterial profile and antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of isolates among patients diagnosed with surgical site infection at a tertiary teaching hospital in Ethiopia: a prospective cohort study

BACKGROUND: Globally, surgical site infections are the most reported healthcare-associated infection and common surgical complication. In developing countries such as Ethiopia, there is a paucity of published reports on the microbiologic profile and resistance patterns of an isolates. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed at assessing the bacterial profile and antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of isolates among patients diagnosed with surgical site infection at Jimma Medical Center in Ethiopia. METHODS: A prospective cohort study was employed among adult patients who underwent either elective or emergency surgical procedures. All the eligible patients were followed for 30 days for the occurrence of surgical site infection (SSI). From those who developed SSI, infected wound specimens were collected and studied bacteriologically. RESULTS: Of 251 study participants, 126 (50.2%) of them were females. The mean ± SD age of the patients was 38 ± 16.30 years. The overall postoperative surgical site infection rate was 21.1% and of these 71.7% (38/53) were culture positive. On gram stain analysis, 78% of them were Gram-negative, 11.5% were Gram-positive and 10.5% were a mixture of two microbial growths. Escherichia coli accounted for (21.43%), followed by Pseudomonas aeruginosa (19.05%), Proteus species (spp.) 14.29%), Staphylococcus aureus (11.90%), Klebsiella species (11.90%), Citrobacter spp. (9.5%), streptococcal spp. (7.14%), Coagulase-negative S. aureus (CoNS) (2.38%) CONCLUSION: Gram-negative bacteria were the most dominant isolates from surgical sites in the study area. Among the Gram-negative bacilli, Escherichia coli were the most common bacteria causing surgical site infection. As there is high antibiotic resistance observed in the current study, it is necessary for routine microbial analysis of samples and their antibiogram.