Title:Characterization of Bacteriological Isolates from Patients and Environment Samples of Burn Ward: A Study from a Tertiary Care Hospital of India
Volume: 21
Issue: 2
Author(s): Shiwani Sharma*, Priya Datta, Varsha Gupta, Pooja Kumari, Gursimran Kaur and Jagdish Chander
Affiliation:
- Department of Microbiology, Government Medical College Hospital, Chandigarh,India
Keywords:
Burn, wound, infection, environmental contamination, infection, control, bacteriological isolates.
Abstract:
Objective: Source of infection in a burn patient is from the patient’s flora, contaminated
environmental surfaces and transmitted from health care workers. Insufficiently disinfected hospital
environmental surface provides a niche for multidrug resistant bacteria. This study was carried
out to assess the bacteriological profile of the pathogens from burn wounds and the surrounding environmental
areas.
Methods: During 6 months, wound swabs from burn patients were collected on admission (after 48
hours of admission), on day 5 and then weekly. Environmental samples were also collected from
burn ward and studied for the bacteriological and anti-microgram profiles.
Results: Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Acinetobacter baumannii were the
major bacterial isolates from the wound swabs and the environmental samples. ESBL was detected
in 56.6% of our Enterobacteriaceae isolates. The environmental sites from which these bacterial isolates
were found were nursing counter, sink, dressing trolley, medicine locker and patient’s bed.
The percentage of MRSA decreased from 50 to 5% and there was an increased role of Enterococci
species causing infections (13.63%).
Conclusion: In this study, there appears that the colonizers of the environment may play a role in
the causation of infection in burn patients. In burns ward, rigorous implementation of infection control
program should be warranted, which includes and hygiene and use of personal protective equipment,
environmental disinfection, cohort nursing care and antibiotics stewardship programme.