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THE BURNS UNIT IN COPENHAGEN
Author(s) -
Thomsen Mogens
Publication year - 1971
Publication title -
acta pathologica microbiologica scandinavica section b microbiology and immunology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.909
H-Index - 88
eISSN - 1600-0463
pISSN - 0365-5563
DOI - 10.1111/j.1699-0463.1971.tb00067.x
Subject(s) - bacitracin , neomycin , staphylococcus aureus , erythromycin , medicine , fusidic acid , antibiotics , incidence (geometry) , penicillin , nose , streptomycin , microbiology and biotechnology , meticillin , surgery , micrococcaceae , antibacterial agent , biology , bacteria , genetics , physics , optics
In the Burns Unit, Copenhagen, Staphylococcus aureus was isolated from 80 per cent of patients showing clinical infection in the burns. Most strains were resistant to penicillin, streptomycin, tetracyclines, erythromycin, neomycin, and bacitracin. These multiresistant strains of S. aureus were found to occur with increasing frequency in extensive burns, the incidence increasing parallel with the duration of patient's stay in hospital and increasing duration of infection. The total incidence increased in the Unit in the course of the study period, and in 1968 multiresistant strains were isolated from 94 per cent of the patients infected with S. aureus. This endemic occurrence is explained by the use of neomycin and bacitracin for the local treatment of the burns. Erythromycin has never been used. Moreover, in the case of fusidic acid a relationship between the antibiotic consumption and the appearance of strains with reduced sensitivity was demonstrated. At admission, 30 per cent of the patients were found to harbour S. aureus in the nose, but only 2.5 per cent were subsequently infected by their own nasal staphylococci, and in most cases these staphylococci were later overgrown by the multiresistant strains.