Abstract:
Microbial infection is the most common and serious complication of burn injury, which is a major cause of
morbidity and mortality. The aim of this study was to determine the bacteriological profiles and the antibiotic sensitivity patterns in burn unit of Allied Hospital Faisalabad over a period of 1 year. During the study period, 393 samples were collected and cultured by conventional method. Disk diffusion method was used to determine the sensitivity/resistance pattern of the isolates. Results were analyzed using SPPS version 20. Out of 393, 332 (84.5%) cases were found to be culture positive. Microbial contamination of the burn wounds was significantly (p<0.05) higher in males (89.3%) as compared to females (78.1%), and in 3rd degree burns (92.2%) as compared to 2nd degree burns (80.8%). Out of 393 patients, 258 (65.6%) cases were of Staphylococcus aurous followed by 169 (43.0%) of Pseudomonas aeruginosa 79 (20.1%) of Klebsiella pneumoniae and 67 (17.0%) of Escherichia coli. Among 258 cases of S. aurous, 153 (59.3%) were MRSA and 105 (40.7%) were MSSA. A large proportion (92.8%) of MRSA was sensitive to techoplanin and exhibited
high-level resistant (96.7%) to fusidic acid whereas, significant proportion (74.4%) of MSSA isolates showed resistant to fusidic acid. A zero resistance was noted in coagulase negative staphylococci to linezolide, vancomycin and teichoplanin.. Pseudomonas aeruginosa exhibited high level resistance to tobramycin (91.7%) and were mostly sensitive (93.5%) to cefipiem. Klebsiella penumoniae was most sensitive to meropenem (100%) and most resistant to tobramycin (63.3%). E. coli showed zero resistance cefipiem and a small proportion of isolates (14.9%) exhibited resistance to tobramycin. In conclusion, S. aurous and P. aeruginosa represented the most common bacterial microbes of burn wounds which exhibited variable antibiotic susceptibility pattern. This study revealed a high potential for multiple microorganism outbreaks and emergence of resistant pathogens in burn patients due to the lack of patient screening and extended empirical use of antibiotics
