Evaluation of antibiotic usage in skin and soft-tissue infections and its antimicrobial susceptibility testing: A hospital-based cross-sectional study

Aim: To evaluate the antibiotic usage in skin and soft-tissue infections (SSTIs) and to study the sensitivity pattern of identified microorganisms from antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) data. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study carried out in the Inpatient Department of General Surgery at Owaisi Hospital & Research Center, Hyderabad, for 6 months to collect 50 swab samples aseptically from the subjects with diverse SSTIs at the day of admission before the administration of antibiotics, and AST was done using Kirby Bauer disc diffusion method based on the guidelines of Clinical Laboratory Standard Institute (CLSI). Results: Of the 50 swab samples, 43 were culture positive and 7 were culture negative, and the highest number of cases was of cellulitis (14.28%). The most commonly isolated pathogen was Staphylococcus aureus (30.23%). On the basis of antibiotic sensitivity testing, we found that Ciprofloxacin was the most potent drug, followed by Ceftriaxone and Amikacin, for overall bacterial isolates. In our study, the treatment adhered to IDSA guidelines in 50% of cases and we found that many antibiotics were resistant. In cases of gangrene and abscess, a striking deviation from the guidelines (60% and 77.7%, respectively) was seen. Conclusion: This study guided us toward an appropriate treatment plan for the management of some SSTIs. The disproportionate and tedious use of antibiotics should be abstained as this may drive the evolution of resistant microorganisms that are even more difficult to get rid of.