A survey of common pathogens in wound in patients at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (U.P.T.H), Port Harcourt.

During a 30-month period, January 1996 to June 1998, a total of 2458 wound swab samples were collected, cultured and identified. In descending order of frequency, the organisms isolated include: Staphylococcus aureus (31.60%), Escherichia coli (25.97%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (21.21%), Klebsiella species (10.82%), Proteus species (8.23%), non-haemolytic streptococci (1.29%), Beta-haemolytic streptococcus (0.43%) and Candida albicans (0.43%). The variation in frequency of the isolates according to sex, age and ward is reported. The antibiotic sensitivity pattern of these isolates is also presented.