Bacterial Pathogens Isolated from Surgical Wound and Their Antimicrobial Resistance Pattern in A Government Hospital in Anambra, Nigeria

Surgical wound infections are among the most common healthcare-associated infections as complications associated with them can have a significant long-term effect on the morbidity, mortality, and quality of life for patients. Knowledge on local pathogens and sensitivity to antimicrobial agents are crucial for successful treatment and management of surgical wound infection. This study evaluates the bacterial pathogens present in infected surgical wounds and their antimicrobial susceptibility profile. A total of 200 wound swabs from 112 males and 88 female patients of ages from 10 – 70 years with surgical wound infection were collected using clean, sterile swabs and analyzed using standard microbiological methods. Antibiotic disk diffusion method was used to determine the antibiotic resistance profile. Result showed that 142(71%) wound specimens were culture positive while 58(29%) showed no growth on culture media. Majority of the culture positive wounds (90.1%) showed single bacterial growth while the remaining (9.9%) revealed poly-microbial growth. The isolates were found to belong to both Gram-positive 53(37.3%) and Gram-negative 89(62.7%) bacteria. The most predominant isolate from the infected surgical wound was Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus 53 (37.3%), followed by Gram-negative Pseudomonas aeruginosa 45(31.7%), Escherichia coli 32 (22.5%) and Klebsiella pneumoniae 12 (8.5%). The result of their antibiotic sensitivity test showed that majority of the wound isolates were highly resistant to ampicillin 126(88.7 %), followed by erythromycin 114(80.3%), gentamicin 109(76.7%) and trimetoprim-sulphametoxazole 103(72.5%). The overall findings on antimicrobial profile revealed high level of antimicrobial resistance from microorganisms isolated from surgical wound infections to commonly prescribed antibiotics. Therefore, there is a need for adequate intervention to control the spread of antimicrobial resistance.