Bacteriology of diabetic feet - abstract

ABSTRACT

In a prospective study of 203 patients with lwoer limb ulcers, there were 38 positive wound cultures. The total study group consisted of 124 diabetics and 79 non-diabetics. The vast majority of patients who were culture positive were diabetic (35/41, 85 percent) and only 3.7 percent (3/79) ofnon-diabetic ulcers were culture positive. In diabetics, polybacterial infections were most common, affecting over 90 percent of the cases. The most common pathogens were Pseudomonas (12), Klebsiella (13) and Proteus (10). Gram-positive organisms were present in 7 cases due to Staphylococci, and to Streptococci in 6 cases. The low culture rate was probably related to failure to culture anaerobic organisms and to prior antibiotic therapy. A follow-up study to include anaerobic cultures is planned, to better elucidate the bacteriology of this common surgical problem (AU)