Objective: To determine the pattern of orthopaedic wound infection and the influence of environmental factors on the distribution of the etiologic bacterial agents.
Design: A prospective observational study.
Setting: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Traumatology, Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospitals Complex, Ile-Ife, Nigeria.
Subjects: Sixty patients with orthopaedic wound infections and orthopaedic ward environment.
Results: Thirty- nine males (mean age 33.31+2SD) and 21 females (mean age 27.47 + 2SD) with orthopaedic wounds. Three hundred and ten bacteria (190 from patients and 120 from ward environment) were isolated. The pattern of bacterial isolates from patients' wounds was different from that of the airborne bacterial isolates irrespective of the length of stay on the ward. There was a significant difference in the distribution and resistance pattern of bacterial isolates from the patient's wounds and ward environment.
Conclusion: There is a high incidence of antibiotic resistance of bacterial isolates from samples cultured from patients compared with isolates from ward environment at this centre. The extensive use of pre-operative prophylactic and post-surgical antibiotics in various combinations at this centre needs to be re-examined to reduce the preponderance of antibiotic resistance.