WOUND INFECTIONS AND CULTURE SENSITIVITY PATTERN IN PEDIATRIC BURN PATIENTS

Objective: To identify common organisms causing burn infection and their antimicrobial sensitivity pattern. Material and Methods: A retrospective study of sixty patients with burn wound infection was carried out at burn unit of Khyber Teaching Hospital Peshawar from September 2006 to August 2007. Children who received burn injuries with signs and symptoms of septicemia were included in this study. Age, sex, percentage of burn wound and etiology of burn wounds was recorded. Culture and sensitivity tests were performed from burn wounds of those patients who were having fever and other features of septicemia by tissue culture of all patients( from infective sites) and their results were noted. Results: Out of sixty patients, fourty were male and twenty were female pediatric burn patients. The most frequent organism isolated was staphylococcus aureus (25%), followed by pseudomonas (21.6%). Other organisms included mix pseudomonas and staphylococcus aureus (23.5%), E-coli (13%), proteus (3%), Klebsiella (3%). All these organisms were resistant to most routine antibiotics. Conclusion: This study highlights that staphylococcus aureus (25%) and pseudomonas (21.6%) are the most common organisms and cefoperazone/sulbactam and imipenem/cilastatin are the most effective empirical therapy in our setup.