Bacterial colonization in areas of burnt skin and healthy children younger than 15 years, seen COANIQUEM, Santiago, Chile Colonización bacteriana de piel sana versus quemada de niños bajo 15 años tratados en COANIQUEM, Santiago de Chile

Abstract

Bacterial colonization in patients with burns skin without infection and outpatient management has been poorly studied. Objective: To quantify and identify the type of bacteria that colonize healthy body areas homologous location of the skin in children from 1 to 15 years, seen COANIQUEM, Santiago, Chile. Per patient, we studied 204 samples from each zone. The isolated microorganisms were S. epidermidis 35, 3%; others Staphylococcus coagulase negative, 25.8%; S. aureus, 4.4%; and S. viridans group 1.4%. In the subgroup of children who had a count between 1 and 1000 cfu, there was a higher proportion of cfu in burned skin healthy skin (p = 0.0359). The association between depth of the lesion and the bacterial count obtained p = 0.034. Conclusion: In outpatient treatment, the microorganisms are expected in healthy skin, burned skin is evident in lower counts probably associated with epithelial damage.