Bacterial flora of burn wounds in Lagos, Nigeria: a prospective study

A prospective study of burn wound sepsis was carried out on 31 consecutive patients with fresh burns. Wound swab cultures were assessed at weekly intervals for 5 weeks. The study revealed that while 96.7 per cent of burn wounds were sterile on admission, bacterial colonization reached 80.6 per cent within the first week after admission. Although the Gram-negative organisms, as a group, were more predominant, Staph. aureus (38.2 per cent) was the most prevalent organism in the first week. It was however surpassed by Pseud. aeruginosa from the second week onwards. Anaerobes were conspicuous by their absence. Similarly, beta-haemolytic streptococcus was not isolated from any patient. Proteus mirabilis was unusually preponderant, forming 19.4 per cent of all isolates. The antibiotic sensitivity pattern showed resistance of most of the organisms to ampicillin. Only 15 per cent of staphylococci were sensitive to cloxacillin. Most of the organisms cultured (93.5 per cent) were sensitive to ceftazidime.