Frequency of Most Prevalent Bacteria in Wound of Diabetic Foot Ulcers and their Antimicrobial Susceptibility to Antibiotics

Abstract

Background: Most of the diabetic patients present as diabetic foot in surgical outdoor and emergency department. Diabetic Foot infections are common and take long duration to be treated. Both Gram positive and Gram negative aerobic bacteria are involved in diabetic foot infection. Aim: To determine the frequency of most prevalent bacteria in wound of diabetic foot ulcers and to determine the antimicrobial susceptibility of isolated bacteria from diabetic foot ulcers so that an empirical antibiotics can be started before the report of culture and sensitivity. Methods: This cross sectional study was conducted in surgical unit 1 of Bahawal Victoria Hospital (BVH) Bahawalpur from 01-08-2020 to 31-07-2021. This study was conducted on 145 patients with diabetic foot ulcer from outdoor and emergency department of BVH. Data about patient’s demography, duration of diabetes, duration of DFUs, type of pathogen and its antibiotic susceptibility was entered on a proforma. Pus sample was obtained from wound under aseptic measures. Culture sensitivity to assess presence of type of pathogen and its antibiotic susceptibility of all the samples was done from the pathology department of the hospital. Results: The mean age of patients was 52.02±10.14 years. There were 77(53.1%) males and 68(46.9%) females. The foot ulcer’s mean duration was 3.81±1.43 months. There were 15(10.3%) patients with St. aureus, 12(8.3%) with E.coli, 12(8.3%) with Proteus mirabilis, 15(10.3%) with P. aeruginosa, 12(8.3%) with Enterobacter spp., 9(6.2%) with Morganella spp., 19(13.1%) with P. vulgaris, 18(12.4%) with P. Mirabilis, 16(11%) with K. pneumonia and 17(11.75) with Morganella pathogen in this study. There were 74(51%) patients sensitive to Amikacin, 73(50.3%) sensitive to Amoxicillin, 66(45.5%) sensitive to Aztreonam, 74(51%) sensitive to Ceftriaxone, 75(51.7%) sensitive to Cefuroxime and 68(49.6%) sensitive to Cephazolin. Conclusion: The most frequent organisms in DFUs, regardless of age, gender and comorbidity, were P. vulgaris, St. aureus and P. aeruginosa. The most sensitive antibiotic in these ulcers was Piperacillin and Meropenem and the most resistant was Cephazolin. Keywords: Diabetic Foot Ulcers, Antimicrobial Susceptibility, St. aureus, P. vulgaris, P. aeruginosa, Piperacillin