Most Common Causative Organism in Hand Abscess, Secondary to Puncture Wounds

Abstract

Hand infections are frequently encountered problem by primary care doctors and orthopedic surgeons. Objective: To evaluate the frequency of common causative organisms in hand abscess, secondary to puncture wounds in patients. Methods: Descriptive cross-sectional study in the Emergency Services of plastics and hand reconstructive surgery at a Civil Hospital in Karachi, Pakistan from January to June 2022. A sample size of 156 was estimated. The Inclusion criteria of our study were Patients of age >18 years, and patients presenting with hand abscess secondary to puncture wounds. A Non-probability consecutive sampling technique was utilized to collect the data. Data were analyzed using SPSS version-23. Frequency and percentage will be computed for gender, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, location zone, and causative microorganism. Results: 156 patients were enrolled in our study out of which, 94 (60.3%) were male and 62 (39.7%) were females. The mean age of the patients was 59.7 years and the mean BMI was 32.3 kg/m 2.83(53.2%) patients had diabetes and 95 (60.9%) patients were hypertensive. The most common location zone of the abscess is Thumb & 1st web space (22.4%). The most common organism identified was Staphylococcus aureus (30.8%) followed by Streptococcus β-hemolytic group A (19.9%) and Staphylococcus coagulase-negative (14.1%). The least common organism was Klebsiella oxytoca (0.6%). Conclusions: The most common cause of hand abscess is staphylococcus aureus and puncture wounds result in hand abscess. Therefore, we conclude that in the cases of puncture wounds, physicians should timely assess the patients for the bacterial cause and treat accordingly to avoid the worst prognosis.