Antibiotic Resistance Pattern Among Staphylococcus aureus Isolated From Wound Cultures in Burn Patients: A Five-Year Study

Burn remains a globally significant life-threatening problem, especially in developing countries, and infection is considered as a major complication among burn patients. The rate of antibiotic-resistant bacteria isolated from burn patients has demonstrated a significant increase. In this regard, this study aimed to determine the antibiotic resistance pattern in Staphylococcus aureus isolated from patients’ burn wound infections.

All available wound cultures of burn patients admitted to the burn unit of Emam-Reza hospital/ Mashhad, northeast Iran from March 2012 to March 2017 were included in this retrospective study. Then, the resistance of isolated S. aureus strains against 25 different antibiotic disks was studied based on the aim of the study.

Overall, 1973 patients were admitted, out of whom 4758 swab samples were taken from them. Out of 3188 micro-organisms isolated from burn wound cultures, 185 (5.8%) cases were S. aureus. Based on the results, the highest susceptibility rates were related to vancomycin (98.8%), cefazolin (72%), ciprofloxacin (75%), and gentamicin (74.6%).

In general, vancomycin, cefazolin, and ciprofloxacin appeared to be the most effective agents among all tested antibiotics for S. aureus. The extensive use of antibiotics in treating infections has resulted in the emergence of resistant strains. Routine microbiological surveillance and careful in vitro testing before antibiotic use may help in the prevention of the ever-increasing antibiotic-resistant pathogens in burn infections