Abstract

Introduction: Diabetic foot infections (DFIs) are one of the leading reason of hospitalization among diabetic patients and when this occurs, empirical antibiotic therapy is considered to be essential in clinical settings. Objectives: To describe the microbiological profile and antibiotic resistance patterns of organisms isolated from DFIs in a tertiary care hospital Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam. Methods: This was a retrospective study of patients with DFIs that required hospitalization to describe the microbiological characteristics and to determine the bacterial resistance. This study was conducted at Department of Endocrinology, Hospital 115 from January 1 to December 31, 2013. Data were collected from medical records. Results: A total of 170 culture specimens from soft tissue of foot were collected but 103 (60.6%) presented microbilogical pathogens. Gram-positive bacteria were responsible for 27 (26.5%) of the isolates while Gram-negative bacteria were 75 (73.5.%). Escherichia coli (25.2%) was the most prevalent pathogen, followed by Staphylococcus aureus (24.2%), Proteus spp (20.4%) and Klebsiella spp (9.7%). Regarding the antibiotic resistance, a high rate of Staphylococcus aureus resistant to colistin (94.0%) and to ciprofloxacin (53%), MRSA (53%) was showed; additionally, 56% of Escherichia coli isolated were resistant to ciprofloxacin. Conclusions: The most prevalent isolated bacteria from DFIs were Gram negative bacteria, resistant to ciprofloxacin. Information about micro- biological profile and resistance patterns of patients with DFIs may be useful for empirical therapy.