POSTOPERATIVE WOUND INFECTIONS: A STUDY OF BACTERIOLOGY AND PATHOGENESIS

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Abstract
Of 200 patients, 6.5% were skin carriers of Staphylococcus aureus and 3.5% became skin carriers after admission. Development of skin carrier state was associated with a long preoperative hospital stay. A 2nd study of 275 cases showed that skin carriers of S. aureus had a significantly higher subsequent staphylococcal wound infection rate than non-carriers; nose and/or throat carriers of S. aureus did not. Peroperative wound contamination was a significant factor in the subsequent development of wound infection. In clean surgery the infection rate was 5.9%. Wound contamination and infection was due to gram-positive organisms, usually S. aureus. When the gastrointestinal or biliary tract had been opened, the infection rate was 28%; the usual contaminating and infecting organisms were enteric and only occasionally S. aureus. There is a need for improved methods of minimizing peroperative wound contamination.

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