Common clinical presentations and antimicrobial resistance pattern among burn patients, at Addis Ababa Burn and Emergency Trauma Hospital (AaBET), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Abstract

Abstract Background: Burn is a very devastating form of trauma, which is responsible for a significant percentage of morbidities and mortalities caused by injury and accidents worldwide. Thermal injury destroys the skin barrier that normally prevents invasion of microorganisms and makes burn wounds susceptible site for colonization by microorganisms of endogenous and exogenous origin. Methods:A prospective cross-sectional study was held at Addis Ababa Burn, Emergency and Trauma (AaBET) Hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from December 01, 2020 to November 30, 2021. Data collected using structured and pretested questionnaire through face-to-face interview. Then, by observing standard procedures wound swabs collected from all consented participants and evaluated for possible microbial isolates and their antibiotic resistance and sensitivity pattern. The extracted data analyzed using SPSS 20.1. This study was conducted following approval of the Saint Paul’s Hospital Millennium Medical College Institutional Review Board. Result: From a total of 75 patients who consented for the study, males account 53.3% (n=42), and age ranged from 6 months to 76 years, with the median age being 19 years. Children less than 15 years old account 42.7% (n=32). Flame burn was the leading cause (n=30, 40%) followed by a scald burn (n=22, 29.3%) and high voltage electric burn (n=21, 28%). Pseudomonas aeruginosa was the commonest isolate (42 isolates; 61.7%) followed by Staphylococcus aureus (18 isolates; 26.4%). A significant percentage of the positive swab results were monomicrobial (84.7%) as compared to those polymicrobial isolates (15.3%). Pseudomonas aeruginosa was found to be highly sensitive to Meropenem, Tobramycin, Gentamycin, and Ciprofloxacillin, while it showed high resistance to ceftriaxone and ceftazidime, Cotrimoxazole, Amoxicillin-clavulanic acid. Conclusion: Pseudomonas aeruginosa is the most common bacteria isolate from burn wounds of the study participants and it is sensitive to Meropenem, Tobramycin, Gentamycin and Ciprofloxacillin; but resistant to Ceftriaxone and Ceftazidime.