Current Bacteriological profile in Fire-burn victims and their associated mortality at the Burns Centre, Karachi-Pakistan

Objective: This study attempts to document the current bacteriological profile from pertinent specimens of fire burn victims in our setting with respect to the time related variations in the isolation of microbial species, extent of their burn injury and their effect on mortality rate. Methodology: During a three year period (Jan 2008 to Dec 2010), a prospective study was conducted on 477 fire burn victims at the Burns Centre of Civil Hospital, Karachi, with the exclusions of electrical, chemical and other forms of burn injury. Blood, pus, urine and wound biopsy samples were collected and cultured according to standard laboratory protocols. The data was analyzed according to the age, gender, time related changes, percentage of burn surface and the mortality rate. Results: Total 477 patients were included in our study. Multiple specimens were collected (n=732) of which 649 (88.7%) cultures were positive for different organisms. Staphylococcus aureus was the commonest organism isolated in fire burn patients. During 1st week S. aureus was predominant (31.6%) followed by Pseudomonas. After 1st week S. aureus (24.6%) and Pseudomonas (25.5%) isolation rate became similar. Mortality rate due to infections was 18.9% in the subjects Conclusions: S.aureus was the commonest cause of infection in fire burn patients in our setting followed by Pseudomonas. These suggests that hygiene should strictly be maintained around burn patients to avoid opportunistic infections.