Journal of AdvancedMedical and Dental Sciences Research

Aim: Prevalence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and its antimicrobial sensitivity profile among post- operative wound infections. Materials and Methods: During study period, the clinical specimen received in the form of post operative wound swabs were processed aerobically. All the samples were examined microscopically by performing Gram & Zeihl Nelsen staining and were cultured simultaneously on the blood agar, MacConkey agar and nutrient agar media. The media plates were aerobically incubated at 37oC for 16-18 hours. Following incubation, the isolated bacteria were subjected to identification by standard biochemical and automated techniques. Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (AST) of the isolates were performed on Mueller Hinton agar by Kirby Bauer’s disc diffusion method. Results: A total of 100 wound swabs were received from the post-operative patients admitted in the surgery. Among them 93% specimens revealed growth while 7% samples were sterile. Pseudomonas aeruginosa was detected among 26 % samples followed by Escherichia coli in 23%, Klebsiella pneumonia in 18%, Staphylococcus aureus in 17%, Proteus mirabilis in 4% and Acinetobacter baumannii in 2%. Mixed infection was detected among 3% samples. P. aeruginosa was isolated among highest number of infected wound swabs (26 %) and comparatively higher number (61.53 %) was detected among male patients. The patients in which higher number of P. aeruginosa isolates were detected belonged to 61-80 years of age group (46.15 %). P. aeruginosa revealed maximum susceptibility to colistin (96.7%) followed by meropenem (76.92%) and imipenem (73.07%). Conclusions: Post-operative wound infection poses an enormous burden not only on the patient but also on the health care services in terms of morbidity, mortality and the economic costs. As also observed in the present study, Pseudomonas infection appears to be common in healthcare settings with relaxed hygienic measures and is also found to be dependent on age, sex and even duration of stay in the hospital.