I Michael Unata - Federal University of Makurdi, Benue State Department of Medical Microbioogy
O Edith Chinenye - Federal University of Makurdi, Benue State Department of Medical Microbioogy

Surgical sites wound swab specimens were collected from four major hospitals in Benue State Nigeria namely; Federal Medical Centre Makurdi, General hospital Gboko, General hospital Otukpo and General hospital North bank, Makurdi over a period of seven months and were examined bacteriologically.. Out of a total of 300 samples examined, 170 had bacterial isolates and of these 61(35.9%) were Pseudomonas aeruginosa, 39(22.9%) Staphylococcus aureus and 25(14.7%) co-infection of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus. Other bacterial isolates were Klebsiella species 12(7.1%), Escherichia coli 10(5.9%), atypical coliform 8(4.7%), Proteus species 7(4.1%), Enterococcus faecalis 4(2.4%) and Streptococcus pyogenes 4(2.4%). The incidence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa was higher at Federal Medical Centre Makurdi (33; 25.3%) than at other hospitals namely General Hospital Gboko (24; 34.3%), General Hospital Otukpo (14; 20.6%) and General Hospital North Bank Makurdi (15; 23.8%). Staphylococcus aureus occurred also more at the Federal Medical Centre Makurdi (24; 24.2%) than at General Hospital Gboko (16; 22.9%), General Hospital Otukpo (12; 17.6%) and General Hospital North Bank Makurdi (12; 19.0%). There were no significant differences between the hospital facilities and the microbial infections at significance level of (p>0.05). The findings in this study suggest that patients, patient’s caregivers and health workers should adhere strictly to guidelines and policies on nosocomial infection preventions and control.

Nosocomial infection, Surgical site wound, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, staphylococcus aureus