Molecular Characterization and Antibiotic Susceptibility Pattern of Commonly Encountered Bacteria from Wound Infection in Diabetic Patients Attending Specialist Hospital, Bauchi, Bauchi State

Diabetic wounds are significantly more susceptible to wound infection by bacteria as well as external contamination than non-diabetic wounds. This study characterized and determined the antibiotic susceptibility pattern of commonly encountered bacteria from wound infection in diabetic patients attending Specialist Hospital, Bauchi, involving 120 diabetic and 120 non-diabetic patients from February to May, 2023. Socio demographic data was collected using structured questionnaire, and sterile swab stick was used in sample collection the subjects and immediately processed for characterization of bacterial isolates according to the standard district microbiological laboratory techniques while Kirby Bauer disk diffusion technique was adopted for susceptibility testing of the isolates. Among diabetic and non-diabetic cases, majority of patients were in the age group 51-60 and the least were in the age group 11-20. The predominant organism isolated was Staphylococcus aureus (41.7%) in both diabetic and non-diabetic wounds. In diabetic wounds, the predominant Gramnegative bacteria were Pseudomonas aeruginosa (20.8%) followed by Klebsiella pneumoniae (17.5%) and Escherichia coli (3.3%) and in non-diabetic wounds, the predominant organism was K. pneumoniae (21.7%) followed by Pseudomonas aeruginosa (17.5%) and E. coli (13.3%). A total of five (5) antibiotics from Gram negative and five (5) from Gram positive disks, which represent the most commonly prescribed antibiotics for treatment of wound infections in the study area, were used in the study. In this study Levofloxacin (71.25%), Chloramphenicol (81.25%) and Gentamicin (69.6%) were effective for S. aureus from all patients, Erythromycin (52.65%) has intermediate effect. From the other hand, Gentamicin (73.7%), Streptomycin (72.4%) and Ampicillin (80.7%) were effective for P. aeruginosa, K. pneumoniae and E. coli. Treatment of wound infections has to be made based on the culture and susceptibility test results for the choice of appropriate antibiotics with maximum efficacy.