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Abstract
Background and design: Cellulitis is a common soft tissue infection and the severity of disease vary from mild to life threatening. The aim of the present retrospective study was to evaluate age, sex, site of infection, microbiological spectrum and the risk factors of cellulitis in hospitalized patients.
Materials and methods: The data were retrospectively obtained by the review of 185 hospitalized patients who were diagnosed as cellulitis between 2003 and 2009 in the departments of dermatology, infectious diseases, internal medicine and surgery clinics of Haydarpasa Numune Training and Research Hospital (Istanbul, Turkey). The diagnosis was done by infectious diseases and dermatology specialists in all patients who were included to this study. Demographic findings, wound-blood cultures and risk factors of the patients with cellulitis were evaluated.
Results: Eighty-six were female, 99 were male of total 185 patients, and the mean age of them was 48 ± 27 (14–85). The leg was the involved site in 69% of the patients. The most frequent isolated bacteria from wound cultures were methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus 31.5%, Pseudomonas aeruginosa 12.6%, and Escherichia coli 12.3%. However, methicillin-sensitive S. aureus 32.5%, methicillin-resistant S. aureus 22.5%, coagulase-negative staphylococci 17.5% were detected from blood cultures. There was not any underlying risk factor in 104 (55.3%) patients. The risk factors observed in the other 81 patients were previous surgery or open wound 29 (35.8%), diabetes mellitus 19 (26.6%), cardiovascular diseases 16 (19.7%), immunosuppression 11 (13.5%), lymphoedema 6 (7.4%).
Conclusion: In the patients hospitalized for cellulitis, the most frequently isolated microorganism from the wound and blood cultures was S. aureus and the most frequently detected risk factors were to have an open wound and previous surgery. Especially when the patients had risk factors, it was observed that the bacterial spectrum was broader and the clinical presentation was severe. The wound and blood cultures should be performed simultaneously for the microbiological diagnosis and the appropriate management of cellulitis.