Research article network analysis of polymicrobial chronic wound infections in Masanga, Sierra Leone

• Published in: BMC infectious diseases 2023-04, Vol.23 (1), p.250-250
• Main Authors: Sandmann, Sarah, Nunes, Jonathan Vas, Grobusch, Martin P, Sesay, Maxwell, Kriegel, Martin A, Varghese, Julian, Schaumburg, Frieder
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Analysis; Antimicrobial agents; Bacteria; Buruli ulcer; Coinfection - epidemiology; Coinfection - microbiology; Competition; Complications and side effects; Composition; Fungi; Health aspects; Humans; Industrialized nations; Infection; Infectious diseases; Klebsiella; Klebsiella pneumoniae; Mass spectrometry; Mass spectroscopy; Microbiota; Microbiota (Symbiotic organisms); Network analysis; Patients; Physical characteristics; Prevention; Proteus mirabilis; Pseudomonas aeruginosa; Risk factors; Sierra Leone - epidemiology; Species; Staphylococcal Infections - microbiology; Staphylococcus aureus; Staphylococcus aureus infections; Staphylococcus infections; Virulence; Wound infection; Wound Infection - epidemiology; Wound Infection - microbiology; Wounds and injuries
• ISSN: 1471-2334; 1471-2334
• DOI: 10.1186/s12879-023-08204-0

Chronic wounds are frequently colonized or infected with multiple bacterial or fungal species, which can both promote or inhibit each other. Network analyses are helpful to understand the interplay of these species in polymicrobial infections. Our aim was to analyse the network of bacterial and fungal species in chronic wounds. Swabs (n = 163) from chronic wound infections (Masanga, Sierra Leone, 2019-2020) were screened for bacterial and fungal species using non-selective agars. Some of these wounds were suspected but not confirmed Buruli ulcer. Species identification was done with MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry. Network analysis was performed to investigate co-occurrence of different species within one patient. All species with n ≥ 10 isolates were taken into account. Of the 163 patients, 156 had a positive wound culture (median of three different species per patient; range 1-7). Pseudomonas aeruginosa (n = 75) was the dominating species with frequent co-detections of Klebsiella pneumoniae (21 cases; OR = 1.36, 95%CI: 0.63-2.96, p = 0.47), Staphylococcus aureus (14 cases; OR = 1.06, 95%CI: 0.44-2.55, p = 1) and Proteus mirabilis (13 cases; OR = 0.84, 95%CI: 0.35-1.99, p = 0.69). The culturome of chronic wounds in Sierra Leonean patients is highly diverse and characterized by the co-occurrence of P. aeruginosa, K. pneumoniae and S. aureus.