Research Article Open Access

The Bacterial Flora of Wounds Suffered By Diabetic Patients in Guyana

Abstract

In a healthy individual the internal tissues are usually free of microorganisms; however, the surface tissue in constant contact with the environment is colonized by a number of indigenous microbiota which is composed mainly of bacteria belonging to about 19 phyla. Some of these bacteria are capable of entering the blood through wounds which provides an optimum environment conducive for colonization. Their abundance and diversity however, is influenced by a number of factors including, the type of wound, its depth, host immune responsiveness and host’s demographics. In some cases there are conditions which impair or deteriorate the function of the immune system rendering the host more susceptible to infections which results in rapid colonization of wounds and slow healing rate. This research, ‘the bacterial flora of wounds suffered by diabetic individuals’, conducted in 2014 at the Georgetown Public Hospital, aimed to provide substantial evidence to support that a host’s demographics can affect the bacterial flora present within that individual’s wound. The results yielded from this research support this theory, as it was seen that age has a significant impact on the species diversity of bacteria constituting the wound. While gender had the lesser impact on species diversity, it did affect the individual species of bacteria present within the wound. The results obtained were substantiated after performing statistical analysis (chi square test and t-test).

Reshma Persaud ,Kumar Sukhraj, Abdullah Ansari, Raihaana Ali

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