Factors Responsible For Wound Infections

 A.    Host Factors: 

The following factors help the organisms tosurvive and produce the infections

 

1.           Extremes of age

 

2.           Diabetes mellitus

 

3.           Steroid therapy

 

4.           Obesity

 

5.           Malnutrition

 

6.           Immunocompromised individual

 

7.           Presence of remote infection at the time of surgery

 

B.     Exogenous Factors

 

1.           Use of un sterile instruments

 

2.           Surgeons hands / from health workers

 

3.           Air / Hospital environments

 

C.    Endogenous Factors

 

1.           Wound contamination from the patient source: from the normal flora

 

2.           Wound penetrating through structures containing normal flora

 

3.           Surgical procedures involving mucous membranes harboring normal flora

 

       4.   Patients carrying pathogens in their nose, throat, axilla etc.

Etiological agents

Ps.aeruginosa

Staph.aureus

Proteus spp

Member of enterobacteriaceae

Anaerobic organisms

Anaerobic cocci

Bacteroides

Post Operative Infections

Gas gangrene organisms

S.aureus

Cl.tetani