Study of Biofilm formation and Antibiogram of Staphylococcus species from Diabetic Foot ulcer patients

Abstract

Background: India has the world’s largest number of diabetics. Non- traumatic lower limb amputation is the most common devastating complication of diabetes, primarily due to diabetic foot ulcers (DFU) and diabetic foot infections (DFI). In India, the incidence of foot ulcers ranges from 8–17 per cent. DFIs are predominantly polymicrobial and multidrug- resistant (MDR) with the ability to form biofilm, which is an important virulence factor and results in treatment failure. Material and Methods: This is prospective and observational study conducted from September 2020 – August 2021 at a tertiary care teaching hospital. The clinical samples were collected for diagnostic purposes by the bacteriology laboratories of Hospital and were from wound secretions of DFU. Infected sites were aseptically cleaned using normal saline and sterile gauzes. Then a wound swab from each patient was collected using sterile cotton swabs. Antibiotic susceptibility tests were done to confirm the results from hospital. Results: Staphylococcus aureus were the most commonly isolated organisms (21.4 %), Escherichia coli (20.0%) and followed by Pseudomonas aeruginosa (18.3 %), Citrobacter sp. (18.3 %), Klebsiella oxytoca (15.4%), and Proteus sp. (6.6 %).
Conclusion: This study showed that bacteria isolated from diabetic foot ulcers were biofilm producers and presented resistance to commonly used antibiotics. Knowledge on antibiotic sensitivity pattern and biofilm phenotype of the isolates will be helpful in determining the drugs for the treatment of diabetic ulcers.