Authors : Mulay M V, Pohekar J A
DOI : 10.18231/j.ijmr.2020.019
Volume : 7
Issue : 1
Year : 2020
Page No : 91-94
Most common Health Care Associated Infections (HAI) are Urinary tract infection (UTI) – 33%,
Pneumonia – 15%, Surgical Site Infections (SSI) – 15%, Blood stream infections – 13%, & other
miscellaneous infections – 24%. SSI is defined as infection at the surgical site that occurs within 30
days of the surgical procedure or within one year – if there is an implant or foreign body such as
prosthetic heart valve or joint prosthesis. Wound infections are always multifactorial. Risk factors for
SSI include co-morbidity, malnutrition, nicotine, suture and implanted foreign material. SSI increases
morbidity & mortality in post surgical patients, & also increases hospital stay, it affects quality of life and
increases financial burden to healthcare system. It may lead to major complications such as sepsis and
death. Patient related risk factors are smoking, obesity and diabetes. Skin preparation with antiseptic and
preoperative antibiotic prophylaxis for clean-contaminated and contaminated surgery have proved efficient
for decreasing SSI. Sutures in contaminated tissues may enhance penetration of micro organisms in deeper
tissues & biofilm formation and this may protect organisms from host defence mechanism. One of the
risk factors is the foreign material which includes suture. Commonly isolated pathogens from SSI are
Staphylococcus aureus, CONS, Enterococcus species, E.coli & resistant pathogens like MRSA & candida
(due to widespread use of broad spectrum anti-microbial agents.) In this study we have compared in vitro
efficacy of triclosan coated polyglactin 910 suture with non – coated sutures against common bacteria
isolated from SSI.
Materials and Methods: We have randomly selected the strains of MRSA, MRCONS, Staphylococcus
hemolyticus, E. Coli, Klebsiella, & Acinetobacter species isolated from clinical samples of SSI. These
isolates were tested against triclosan coated & non coated sutures which are commercially available.
Similar length of (4cm) of sutures cut & tested for zone of inhibition on lawn culture made on Muller
Hinton Agar (MHA) by using 0.5 McFarland standard of above strains by touching 4 to 5 colonies of each
bacterium. It is incubated overnight at 370C & examined for zone of inhibition.
Results: zone of inhibition of coated & uncoated sutures has been measured & compared for each strain.
Conclusion: In vitro, triclosan coated sutures showed good antibacterial activity than non coated sutures
& hence triclosan coated sutures may help in reducing bacterial SSI rate and thus reduce cost & duration
of hospital stay for the patient.
Keywords: SSI, Triclosan, Suture materials.