Wound Lab Report

2.2 Description of Wound and its Association with Microbes

Skin is the largest organ in the human body, plays a crucial role in the sustenance of life through regulation and maintainance of water and electrolyte balance, thermoregulation, and also acting as a barrier to external noxious agents including microorganisms, however, when the epithelial integrity of skin is broken, a wound results (Zafar et al. 2008).

A wound is an abrasion in the skin and the exposure of subcutaneous tissue after the loss of skin integrity provides moist, warm and nutritious environment that is conducive for microbial colonization and proliferation (Duguid and Colle, 1975). Wounds disrupt the protective barrier of the skin thereby creating a channel of entry

It may be directly from the patient, a member of the operating room staff or from other person in the hospital ward. Wound may be infected outside hospital ward via exposure to dust carrying infecting organism either in vegetative form or in form of spores. In fresh wound, bacteria have little time to multiply and there is practically no evidence of inflammatory tissue response, hence with few exceptions, bacteria are regarded as contaminants. But after a few hours, however, if sign of inflammation or other tissue response appear, then the bacteria must no longer be considered as contaminant but as infecting bacteria (Topley and Wilson, 1988).The commonest pyogenic bacteria often associated with infected wounds are Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pyogenes, Pneumococcus sp and coliform bacilli, such as Escherichia coli, Proteus sp, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and other enteric bacilli. Aerobic organisms particularly Clostridium perfringes and other species of bacteriodes and aerobic cocci may also present (Klein et al. 1995). Pseudomonas aeruginosa causes a wide variety of septic infections in man and other vertebrates (Hare and Wilits, 1962). Among species much less commonly encountered in wound infections are Pasteurella multicida in animal bites, Corynebacterium diphtheria and Bacillus anthracis in malignant pustules of skin. In chronic infection that are slow to heal and in pus showing no

There are thousand species of medicinal plants used globally for the cure of different infections. These plants are used as antimicrobial agents and several works has been carried out by scientists to find out its scientific basis (Omotayo, 1998) which include Anacardium occidentale, Pilostigma recticulatum, Anogeissus leiocarpa, Enantia chlorantha, Senna occidentalis and Azadiracha indica. The use of medicinal plants predates the introduction of antibiotics and other modern drugs in the African continent. Herbal medicine has been shown to be effective and over 60% of the Nigerian population depends on traditional medicine for their health care needs (Ghani et al., 1989). Traditional medicine practitioners in Nigeria use a variety of herbal preparations to treat different kinds of ailments including typhoid fever, paratyphoid fever, dysentery, malaria, diarrhoea and wound infections. In recent past, attention has been directed to medicinal research to substantiate the claims of cure made by the traditional healers and thus provide a scientific basis for their efficiency (Olukoya et al.,