I don't know that there's any definitive source out there - I just saw
your post and am replying from my experience only. There's probably
figures somewhere.
By far and away, the most common bacteria that I've seen on plates of
wound infections in my 20+ years of micro experience is Staphylococcus
aureus, both on hospital acquired infections and other community
acquired infections. The last few years, many of these Staph's are MRSA
(methicillin resistant SA), especially amongst already hospitalized
patients.
As far as gram negative organisms, Pseudomonas aeruginosa is very
common. Many times SA is there with a smattering of gram negatives along
for the ride. As far as anaerobic bacteria, Bacteroides fragilis and
other Bacteroides sp. are common, as are Peptostreptococci of various
species. Whether these are community or hospital acquired is hard to
say, as I don't know the patient's history. I just have the specimen in
front of me. I currently can easily check their past history on this
particular admission but don't have time to see what they've had
previously, if anything. We normally have the patient's name, gender,
age, location, diagnosis, and wound site on the screen when we're
working with the specimen. This can help a lot, but is no substitute for
a good case history which we are rarely privy to unless the patient
becomes a real problem.
Years ago we used to see a lot of combo infections with SA and Group A
beta hemolytic strep (Strep. pyogenes) but I haven't seen that combo
nearly as often in the last ten years as previously. If anyone knows why
this is, I'd like a comment about it :-).
Of course, that doesn't begin to address ALL the bacteria and fungi I've
seen in wound cultures, as there are many and are very diverse in their
combinations and permutations.
Judy Dilworth, M.T. (ASCP)
Microbiology 28 years
Colin Davidson wrote:
>> Dear All,
>> I'm curious to find some information on the identity of bacteria that infect
> wounds in hospitals.
> Colin.
