Antibiotic Susceptibility Profile of Gram-Negative Isolates from Wound Swabs.

ABSTRACT
Objectives: This study was carried out to isolate and identify gram negative bacteria in wounds
and ascertain their antimicrobial susceptibility pattern.
Methods: One hundred and twenty-five wound swabs were collected from patients using cotton
tipped swab sticks, inoculated by standard bacteriological techniques and the isolates identified
by biochemical tests. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was done by the disc diffusion method.
Results: Sixty-four isolates were obtained (51.2% prevalence). These include Pseudomonas aeruginosa
(50.7%), E. coli (38.1%), Proteus vulgaris (6.3%) and Proteus mirabilis (4.8%). Ninety five percent of
the isolates were resistant to 3 or more antibiotics. The 64 isolates were made up of 34 resistance
phenotypes.
Conclusion: There is high prevalence of multiple antibiotic resistant gram-negative isolates in wounds of
the patients. It is important that the antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of wounds be determined before
initiating antimicrobial therapy to avoid selection of multidrug resistant strains. Appropriate infection
control measures are also necessary to curtail the spread.