Surgical wound infection in a teaching hospital in Ethiopia

The magnitude and pattern of surgical wound infection in a teaching hospita l in Gondar, northwest Ethiopia, was studied prospectively over a one year period. Out of 129 abdominal surgical wounds from 129 patients, fifty (38.7 %) yielded pathogenic organisms on culture, The wound infection rate was 21 % on clinical grounds alone. Wound Infection was significantly associated w ith class of wound; with the highest rate being 61.4% for contaminated or d irty wound. There was no difference in infection rate between emergency and elective operations. Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli were the l eading aetiologic agents with rates of 28.8% and 27.1% of pathogenic isolat es respectively. Surgical wound infection accounted for delay in the discha rge of 14.7% of patients. This study has shown that the surgical wound infe ction rate in this teaching and tertiary level care hospital is high and co ntrol measures should be re-evaluated.