[Hospital infections in an emergency surgery ward]

A study was conducted on hospital infections in an emergency surgery ward. The survey lasted one year and confirmed the higher incidence of infections after contaminated and dirty operations. Rates of infection were also high after clean operations due to the large number of subjects at risk among the group examined. The most commonly encountered micro-organisms in the infections of surgical wounds were, in order, E. coli, Str. faecalis and Staph. aureus, the latter being only minimally responsive to the standard antibiotics. Several proposals are advanced for prophylaxis in the attempt to halt the circulation of strains with a multiple resistance to antibiotics.