A Study on the Prevalence Isolation and Identification of the Secondary Bacterial Infections Complicating Psoriasis at the Tertiary Care Hospital, Chennai

Aims and Objectives The aim of the present study was to isolate and identify different types of bacterial pathogens commonly complicating psoriatic skin lesions from the various sites of the body and to test their antibiotic susceptibility pattern. Introduction Psoriasis is an immune mediated disease with known genetic predisposition that causes redness, scaling and raised patches to appear on the skin [1]. The invasion of skin by normal skin commensals or other pathogenic organisms is prevented by the intact stratum corneum layer of the epidermis. The current study aims at the isolation and identification of different organisms causing secondary bacterial infections that commonly complicate psoriasis. Methods and materials The samples were collected from a total of known 50 cases of psoriasis suspected to be complicated with some bacterial infections and were send for culture and sensitivity. Results The most common microbial pathogen isolated was Staphyococcus aureus that accounts a total of 34.0 % of the isolated organisms and from the antibiogram among the antimicrobial agents that were tested linezolid was most susceptible agent and cefazolin was most resistant to the isolated bacterial pathogens. The histopathological examination from the above patients with psoriasis also revealed numerous inflammatory infiltrates that was also suggestive of psoriasis with concurrent bacterial infection. Conclusion Thus the study concludes that there is a high prevalence of secondary bacterial infections together with an increasing resistance pattern to various antimicrobial agents that can be attributed to poor personal hygiene and lack of awareness about the disease among the affected individuals. So, we highly recommend education and awareness related to the disease, maintenance of proper personal hygiene, timely identification of the pathogenic organisms and antimicrobial susceptibility testing to reduce the risks of morbidity and mortality among these patients.