ePoster with Impact Presentation ANZBA Annual Scientific Meeting 2024

Analysis of the Microbiome and Bacterial Pathogens in Paediatric Burns: A Retrospective and Prospective Review (21098)

Anton Alvaro 1 , Anteneh Amsalu 2 , Linda Quinn 1 , Bernard Carney 1 , Zlatko Kopecki 2
  1. Women's and Children's Hospital, PROSPECT, SOUTH AUSTRALIA, Australia
  2. University of South Australia, Adelaide

The skin is the largest organ in the human body and acts as a barrier and effective defence against infection. Burn injuries, in which the integrity of the skin has been compromised, are particularly susceptible to infection 1. Whilst it can be normal for wounds to be colonised with bacteria, specific pathogens, large bacterial loads or reduced immune response can lead to active infection of the burn wound 2.

 

The Women’s and Children’s Hospital (WCH) Burn Unit in conjunction with the University of South Australia are currently undertaking a two-part investigation to define the patterns of microbial growth in both infected and non-infected burn wounds in the paediatric population. We are performing a retrospective cohort study on 194 patients admitted to the WCH Burn Unit between 2011 and 2023 with active infection of burn wounds, to define the common bacterial pathogens seen over this 12-year period. To date, most infections were caused by gram positive staphylococcal and streptococcal infections. In addition, we are performing a prospective investigation utilising wound swabs on all patients admitted with burn injuries to define both the microbiome of non-infected burns and the common pathogens seen in infected burns. This presentation will give a preliminary review of our findings to date.

 

The overall aim of this project is to use the microbial data collected to test the efficacy of a newly developed, silver-based hydrogel dressing for eradication of clinical bacterial isolates, which has preliminarily shown efficacy against isolates that are cefazolin and mupirocin resistant.

  1. 1. Aramwit, P., Muangman, P., Namviriyachote, N. and Srichana, T. (2010). In Vitro Evaluation of the Antimicrobial Effectiveness and Moisture Binding Properties of Wound Dressings. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, [online] 11(8), pp.2864–2874. doi:https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms11082864.
  2. 2. Halstead, F.D., Lee, K.C., Kwei, J., Dretzke, J., Oppenheim, B.A. and Moiemen, N.S. (2018). A systematic review of quantitative burn wound microbiology in the management of burns patients. Burns, 44(1), pp.39–56. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.burns.2017.06.008.