Microbiological profile of bacterial pathogens from diabetic foot infections in tertiary care hospitals, Salem

Background: Worldwide, diabetic foot infections are one of the most serious complications resulting in long term hospitalization among the diabetic patients. Aim: The aim of this study was to determine the microbial profile and the antibiogram pattern of the patients with diabetic foot infections. Methods: Pus samples were taken from 50 patients presenting with diabetic foot infections over a period of 10 months. The samples were processed by standard microbiological methods. Results: A total of 51 bacterial isolates were obtained from 50 patients with diabetic foot infections. The age group of these patients ranged from 30 to 80 years and the maximum number of patients were in the age group of 51-60 years. Gram negative (51%) were more prevalent than Gram positive (49%) organisms in this study. The commonest isolate was Staphylococcus aureus (41%) followed by Pseudomonas aeruginosa (35%), Enterococcus spp., (4%), Escherichia coli, (4%), Salmonella spp., (4%), Bacillus spp., (4%), Micrococcus spp., (2%), Listeria spp., (2%), Shigella spp., (2%) and Proteus spp., (2%). The antibiotic sensitivity pattern showed Meropenem, Piperacillin, Cefoperazone/Sulbactam, Piperacillin/Tazobactam and Amikacin as the most effective antimicrobial agents for the gram positive and Gram negative bacterial species. In this study, 8(44%) isolates of Gram negative bacilli were ESBL producers and 4 (19%) isolates were MRSA strains. Conclusion: The results of the study indicate that effective planning of therapy is very essential for the prevention of drug resistant organisms. (C) 2014 Diabetes India. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.