Indeed, as administration of antibiotics during surgery is the cornerstone of infection prevention, the global rise in antibiotic resistance is expected to increase infection rates after surgery.
TSPB (Bring Your Own Bacteria)
As a team of physician-scientists with expertise in critical care, infectious diseases, laboratory medicine, microbiology, pharmacy, orthopedics, and neurosurgery, we wanted to better understand how and why surgical infections were occurring in our patients despite following recommended protocols for avoid them.
Previous studies on surgical site infections have been limited to a single species of bacteria and used older genetic analysis methods. But new technologies have opened the door to studying all types of bacteria and simultaneously testing their antibiotic resistance genes.
We focus on infections in spinal surgery for a few reasons. First, similar numbers of women and men undergo spine surgery for a variety of reasons throughout their lives, meaning our results would be applicable to a larger group of people. Second, more healthcare resources are spent on spine surgery than on any other type of surgical procedure in the US. Third, infection after spine surgery can be particularly devastating for patients, as it often requires repeat surgeries and long courses of antibiotics to have a chance at a cure.
Over a period of one year, we collected samples of the bacteria living in the noses, skin and feces of more than 200 patients before surgery. We then followed this group for 90 days to compare these samples with any infections that occurred later.
Tags: patient responsible spreading bacteria
