A comparison of superficial and deep bacterial presence in open fractures of the lower extremities

This open prospective study compared the bacterial flora of superficial and deep-wound biopsies and swabs over a 2-year period in 4 different samples cultured from open fracture wounds at the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospitals Complex, Ile-Ife, Nigeria. Samples were taken from 47 patients with factures graded according to Gustilo and Anderson's classification as grade 1 (2.1%), grade II (29.8%), grade IIIA (36.2%), and grade IIIB (31%). A total of 248 samples were cultured using standard techniques. The incidence of open fracture wounds was 78.7% in male patients and 21.3% in female patients. Tibia fractures constituted 66.1%. A total of 203 bacterial isolates were cultured from 248 samples. Gram-negative bacteria constituted 53.2% of isolates, with Escherichia coli being predominant (12.8%). Staphylococcus aureus were the predominant Gram-positive cocci (15.3%), and Staphylococcus epidermidis (13.3%) may be considered to be the major source of open fracture wound contamination. The bacterial species cultured from superficial and deep-wound swabs and biopsies were similar. Resistance to antimicrobials was high for penicillins (amoxicillin and cloxacillin), with values of 68.6% and 58.3%, respectively, for superficial bacterial species and 58.2% and 31.9%, respectively, for deep-wound biopsies.