Bacteriology of Burned Patients Admitted to Burn Unit in Northwest of Iran

Abstract

Background & Objectives: Infection is the major cause of death in burn injuries. There are several reasons which make burn victims susceptible to infection. Current study aimed to investigate the effects of different facts on bacteremia occurrence in burn patients. Materials and Methods: This descriptive analytic study conducted in year 2013 and 486 burn patients which admitted to educational-clinical centers of northwest Iran, were included. Patients’ data including age, sex, lesion color, and percentage of burn were collected. Then we documented all interventions, blood tests and cultures and recorded colonies data. Results: In this study, 234 (48.1%) was male and 252 (51.9%) was female included with mean age 31.28±12.87 and bacteremia occurred in 51 patients .The most common wound infection agent was Klebsiella and the most common agent of bacteremia was Pseudomonas. In patients with extensive burn area, bacteremia and mortality occurred commonly (p=0.01, p=0.02). According to relationship between mortality rate and bacteremia, in group of bacteremia, the mortality rate was more (P=0.03) and central venous catheter increased the tate of bacteremia (p=0.002).The relationship between age and sex with bacteremia and mortality was not significant and in this research, the color of burn wound had no association with wound infection. Conclusions: Klebsiella is the most common wound infection agent and Pseudomonas is the most common agent of bacteremia. Mortality rate is in a direct relation with bacteremia and then by widening of burn area, respectively. Invasive interventions, increase the bacteremia susceptibility and mortality rate in burn wards.