Bacterial Isolates and Their Antibiotic Susceptibility Pattern among Patients with Infected Wounds Admited in Orthopaedic and Trauma Ward in Tertiary Care Hospital North-Eastern Tanzania

The hospital environment contributes to wound infections. Effects of such infections include prolonged hospitalization, increased morbidity, potential for antibiotics resistance and mortality due to sepsis. An updated knowledge of antibiotics susceptibility profiles of clinical isolates will assist both in choosing the most appropriate antibiotic treatment for wound infections and help in curbing the escalation of drug resistance. Cross sectional hospital based study, analysis of 125 pus samples collected from January 2018 to December 2020 was conducted. Identification and characterization of isolates were performed on the basis of Gram staining, microscopic characteristics, colony characteristic, and biochemical tests using standard microbiological methods. Antibiotic susceptibilities of bacterial isolates were determined by Kirby Bauer disc diffusion. A total of 125 pus samples were studied, 94 (75%) were from male patients, mean age was 38.5 (SD ± 19) years. Single bacterial isolates were recovered from 120 (96%) samples, 67 (53.6%) shows Multiple Drug Resistance (MDR) pattern, 74 (59.2%) were gram negative, the predominant organism isolated was Staphylococcus aureus 46 (36.8%). Gram negative isolates showed high resistance to ampicillin and cephalosporins. Gram positive isolates showed high resistance to erythromycin. Both gram positive and negative were found to be highly susceptible to gentamicin, amikacin, clindamycin, ciprofloxacin and amoxicillin/clavulanic acid. The study showed that Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia coli are the major bacteria isolated from pus samples. High proportion (53.6%) of the isolates was MDR. In the light of these findings, a change in antibiotic prescription policy is required at this hospital.