Table 1.
Characteristics of patient isolates from wound cultures stratified by country
| Overall | Benin | Congo | Liberia | Madagascar | Sierra Leone | Togo | P value | |
| Number of isolates | 3145 | 687 | 461 | 440 | 654 | 466 | 437 | |
| Patient characteristics | ||||||||
| Age in years | 24.6±15.7 | 26.1±15.2 | 23.0±13.6 | 25.3±15.7 | 22.1±15.0 | 28.5±18.4 | 22.5±15.1 | <0.001 |
| Male gender | 1728 (55.8) | 430 (63.0) | 203 (46.7) | 257 (58.7) | 302 (46.7) | 311 (66.9) | 225 (52.2) | <0.001 |
| Ward | <0.001 | |||||||
| Preadmission* | 205 (7.0) | 96 (14.2) | 29 (6.3) | 11 (2.6) | 43 (6.8) | 11 (3.6) | 15 (3.5) | |
| Inpatient | 1745 (59.6) | 297 (43.9) | 282 (61.2) | 281 (66.4) | 307 (48.3) | 251 (82.6) | 327 (76.6) | |
| Operating room | 233 (8.0) | 44 (6.5) | 29 (6.3) | 30 (7.1) | 64 (10.1) | 28 (9.2) | 38 (8.9) | |
| Outpatient | 744 (25.4) | 240 (35.5) | 121 (26.2) | 101 (23.9) | 221 (34.8) | 14 (4.6) | 47 (11.0) | |
| Wound location | <0.001 | |||||||
| Abdomen/pelvis | 149 (4.7) | 28 (4.1) | 7 (1.5) | 55 (12.5) | 31 (4.7) | 12 (2.6) | 16 (3.7) | |
| Chest/breast/back | 106 (3.4) | 40 (5.8) | 15 (3.3) | 8 (1.8) | 16 (2.4) | 16 (3.4) | 11 (2.5) | |
| Groin/genitalia | 261 (8.3) | 47 (6.8) | 12 (2.6) | 11 (2.5) | 51 (7.8) | 120 (25.8) | 20 (4.6) | |
| Head and neck | 1127 (35.8) | 287 (41.8) | 183 (39.7) | 118 (26.8) | 259 (39.6) | 123 (26.4) | 157 (35.9) | |
| Lower extremity | 903 (28.7) | 201 (29.3) | 142 (30.8) | 143 (32.5) | 180 (27.5) | 122 (26.2) | 115 (26.3) | |
| Upper extremity | 19 (0.6) | 81 (11.8) | 102 (22.1) | 93 (21.1) | 116 (17.7) | 71 (15.2) | 117 (26.8) | |
| Unclassified† | 580 (18.4) | 3 (0.4) | 0 (0.0) | 12 (2.7) | 1 (0.2) | 2 (0.4) | 1 (0.2) | |
| Organisms identified | ||||||||
| Staphylococcus aureus | 856 (27.2) | 191 (27.8) | 113 (24.5) | 116 (26.4) | 172 (26.3) | 166 (35.6) | 98 (22.4) | <0.001 |
| Enterococcus spp | 26 (1.1) | 4 (0.8) | 0 (0.0) | 4 (1.2) | 8 (1.7) | 4 (1.1) | 6 (1.9) | 0.220 |
| Streptococcus spp | 133 (5.8) | 22 (4.4) | 13 (4.1) | 12 (3.7) | 59 (12.4) | 18 (4.9) | 9 (2.8) | <0.001 |
| Pseudomonas spp | 287 (12.5) | 63 (12.7) | 52 (16.5) | 42 (13.0) | 41 (8.6) | 30 (8.1) | 59 (18.5) | <0.001 |
| Acinetobacter spp | 102 (4.4) | 26 (5.2) | 15 (4.8) | 14 (4.3) | 22 (4.6) | 17 (4.6) | 8 (2.5) | 0.595 |
| Enterobacteriaceae‡ | 662 (21.0) | 162 (23.6) | 98 (21.3) | 87 (19.8) | 141 (21.6) | 83 (17.8) | 91 (20.8) | 0.292 |
| Proteus mirabilis | 187 (5.9) | 31 (4.5) | 31 (6.7) | 24 (5.5) | 38 (5.8) | 24 (5.2) | 39 (8.9) | |
| Klebsiella pneumoniae | 139 (4.4) | 39 (5.7) | 20 (4.3) | 8 (1.8) | 42 (6.4) | 16 (3.4) | 14 (3.2) | |
| Escherichia coli | 99 (3.1) | 37 (5.4) | 8 (1.7) | 11 (2.5) | 22 (3.4) | 10 (2.2) | 11 (2.5) | |
| Enterobacter cloacae | 75 (2.4) | 28 (4.1) | 13 (2.8) | 11 (2.5) | 12 (1.8) | 4 (0.9) | 7 (1.6) | |
| Morganella morganii | 37 (1.2) | 8 (1.2) | 4 (0.9) | 11 (2.5) | 5 (0.8) | 7 (1.5) | 2 (0.5) | |
| Providencia stuartii | 22 (0.7) | 2 (0.3) | 3 (0.7) | 2 (0.5) | 4 (0.6) | 4 (0.9) | 7 (1.6) | |
| Citrobacter diversus | 20 (0.6) | 7 (1.0) | 2 (0.4) | 2 (0.5) | 2 (0.3) | 4 (0.9) | 3 (0.7) | |
| Serratia marcescens | 14 (0.4) | 2 (0.3) | 2 (0.4) | 5 (1.1) | 4 (0.6) | 1 (0.2) | 0 (0.0) | |
| Enterobacter aerogenes | 9 (0.3) | 2 (0.3) | 3 (0.7) | 1 (0.2) | 1 (0.2) | 1 (0.2) | 1 (0.2) | |
| Citrobacter freundii | 9 (0.3) | 1 (0.1) | 2 (0.4) | 0 (0.0) | 5 (0.8) | 0 (0.0) | 1 (0.2) |
Presented as mean±SD or number (%).
P values from analysis of variance for continuous variables or Fisher’s exact test for categorical variables.
*Preadmission locations include sites of patient screening to determine eligibility for surgeries offered by Mercy Ships, admissions tent located off the ship where patients undergo routine health examination including blood draw and microbiological testing as determined necessary by the admission physician (typically a general practitioner), or dental clinics located off ship where patients present for same day procedures.
†Recorded culture data lacked sufficient information to classify site of wound.
‡Ten most commonly isolated Enterobacteriaceae species listed below.