Bacteriological and antibiotic susceptibility study of pyodermas at a tertiary care center in central Karnataka

Abstract

<p class="abstract"><strong>Background:</strong> Pyoderma is defined as a skin infection mainly caused by <em>Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pyogenes</em> or both. Pyoderma is a common skin infection in India and constitutes major portion of patients in dermatological clinics. Many cases nowadays do not respond to the antibiotics that were previously sensitive. In order to successfully treat cases of pyodermas, sound knowledge is necessary regarding the etiology and their sensitivity patterns. Objectives of this study were to determine clinico-epidemiological and etiological factors associated in patients with pyoderma and to find sensitivity pattern of isolated organisms to various antibiotics commonly used<span lang="EN-IN">.</span></p><p class="abstract"><strong>Methods:</strong> <span>A hospital based cross sectional study was performed on 100 patients </span>presenting with bacterial skin infections to the Dermatology out-patient department of a tertiary care centre in Central Karnataka. Clinical and epidemiological features were recorded on a predefined proforma.  Sterile swabs were used to collect the pus from the lesions under aseptic precaution. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing of the isolated strains to different groups of drugs was tested on Muller Hinton agar by the Kirby Bauer disc diffusion method.<strong></strong></p><p class="abstract"><strong>Results:</strong> Primary pyodermas was seen more in the age group of 21-30 years (21%), followed by 31-40 years (19%).  Folliculitis (32%) was the commonest clinical type followed by furuncles (28%). Among the gram positive isolates, Vancomycin (88.24%), Linezolid (86.67%) and Cefoxitin (71%) were the most susceptible drugs, whereas Amoxicillin (92.86%) and penicillin G (88.37%) were the most resistant drugs<span lang="EN-IN">. </span></p><p class="abstract"><strong>Conclusions:</strong> Pyodermas have been the major cause of morbidity since long. Even though pyoderma is a common condition, emerging multidrug resistant strains is of major concern to treat these conditions. Suitable and judicious selection of antibiotics by using antibiotic sensitivity data would limit the emerging drug resistant strains in the future to treat these clinical conditions successfully<span lang="EN-IN">.</span></p>