Background: The rate of infection is high and heterogeneous in developing countries. This study aimed to find the rate and
pattern of infection in a tertiary care hospital with a goal to improve the infection control practices.
Methods: The study was conducted in the orthopedic units of a multispecialty teaching hospital. Medical records of major
orthopedic surgery adult patients without immunosuppression state were included. The bacterial culture report of the wound
swabs were noted over a period of one year. The bacterial culture testing was performed by a recommended method.
Results: Among 2,249 orthopedic surgery patients, 83.7% were males, 49.1% had open wounds during admission and 32.2%
patients were infected. Majority (64.2%) of the injuries were in the lower limb with 19.4% patients having undergone multiple
surgeries during hospitalization. A total of 946 pathogens were grown from 725 specimens.
Staphylococcus aureus
was the maximum (48.4%) followed by
Pseudomonas aeruginosa
(26.3%) and
E coli
(16.7%). Among them, 57.3% were Methicillin Resistant
Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and was the leading pathogen causing infection among orthopedic patients.
Conclusion: MRSA infection was high. Consequent to this, an interventional program entitled ‘Extended Infection Control
Measures' was designed to reduce the burden of infection.
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/ahs.v19i1.12
Cite as: Latha T, Anil B, Manjunatha H, Chiranjay M, Elsa D, Baby N, et al. MRSA: the leading pathogen of orthopedic infection in a tertiary
care hospital, South India. Afri Health Sci. 2019;19(1). 1393-1401. https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/ahs.v19i1.12 
