Bacteriological profile and antibiogram of aerobic burn wound isolates in a tertiary care hospital, Odisha, India

Abstract

Approximately 73 percent of all post-burn deaths are directly or indirectly related to septic processes. The 
objective of this retrospective study at a tertiary care hospital, Odisha, India was to isolate aerobic bacterial 
pathogens and study its antimicrobial resistant pattern in order to establish empiric antimicrobial strategies 
for the early treatment of imminent septic events. During three year period (January 2010 to December 
2012), 193 burn wound swabs were collected from 187 hospitalized patients. Isolation and identification of 
microorganisms was done using standard procedure and each isolate’s antimicrobial resistant pattern was 
determined by Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion technique. From 193 swabs, 171 (88.6%) culture positive swabs 
and 176 isolates were obtained. The most common isolate was Pseudomonas aeruginosa (49.4%), followed 
by Staphylococcus aureus (22.2%), Klebsiella pneumoniae (13.1%) and Acinetobacter baumannii (4.5%). P. 
aeruginosa was least resistant to piperacillin/tazobactam (12.6%) and imipenem (9.2%) and 59 percent 
methicillin resistant S. aureus (MRSA) was 100% sensitive to vancomycin and linezolid. High prevalence of 
multidrug resistant bacteria in our hospital setting suggest continuous surveillance of burn wound 
infections and need for development of strict infection control practices.