Diabetic foot ulcer infection rate, bacterial etiology and antibiotic susceptibility: A cross sectional study

Aim of the study; to determine the diabetic foot ulcer infection rate, bacterial etiology and antibiotic susceptibility. Research design: A cross sectional study design was utilized to fulfill the aim of this study. Setting: The study was conducted in out-patient diabetes clinic at Asyut University Hospital. Patients: A total of two hundred adult patients (both males and females) having type I or type II diabetes, with a foot ulcer. One tool was used for data collection of this study; structured diabetic patient interview questionnaire sheet with the following parts: Part I: Diabetic Patients demographic characteristics, Part II: Medical profile of the studied patients and Part III: Laboratory tests: Glycosylated Hemoglobin (Hg A1C) and Pus culture and sensitivity results. Results: The present study revealed that 53.5 % of the studied sample was female, 56.5 % were married, 45.5 % were in the age group between 50 to less than 65 years and 39.5 % were illiterate. 56 % of the sample was having type II diabetes, mean duration of diabetes in years was 13.14 ± 7.36, mean body mass index was 26.95 ± 6.75, regarding treatment regimen; 46.5 % were taking insulin, 53 % were in poor glycemic control, 28 % fair and 19 % were in good glycemic control. 51 % of the studied patients their duration of foot ulcer was less than a month, 27 % from 1 - 2 months, 69 % of the studied sample was having a superficial ulcer.89 % was having a positive pus culture result out of which 23 % was related to pseudomonas aeruginosa, followed by Escherichia coli (20 %), Staphelococcus aureus (19 %) and the least common organism was Citrobacter isolates (2 %). 37 % of the causative organisms were sensitive to Piperacillin tazobactam, 22 % were sensitive to Gentamicin, 16 % to Vancomycin, 13 % to Azithromycin and 12 % were sensitive to Levofloxacin.