POSTOPERATIVE WOUND INFECTIONS

A prospective study of postoperative wound infection was carried out o ver a two year period in Cumhuriyet University Medicine Faculty Hospit al in Sivas, Turkey. Examination of wounds, with cultures of all suspi cious wounds using standard bacteriological methods was performed. Of a total of 4146 surgical wounds, 188 (4.53%), became infected. High in fection rates were noted after colon resection (32.1%), gastric and oe sophageal operations (21.1%), cholesystectomy (17.2%), and splenectomy (10.2%). Low infection rates were noted after thyroidectomy, mastecto my, caesarean section and abdominal hysterectomy. The commonest causat ive organisms were coagulase-negative staphylococci 21.7%, Staphylococ cus aureus 19.7%, Escherichia coli 19.7%, Enterobacter spp. 17.6%, and Pseudomonas spp. 10.7%.