Author(s)

Montcho Adrien Hodonou^1*, Bio Tamou¹, Sêmêvo Romaric Tobome², Thierry Hessou², Robert Akpata³, Allassan Boukari², Ulrich Parfait Otchoun¹, Roméo Haoudou¹, Gambattista Priuli¹, Salako Alexandre Allodé¹, Gildas Kedalo⁴, Mohamed Abbas⁵, Delphin Kuassi Mehinto⁶, Roberto Caronna⁷

¹Department of General Surgery, Regional University Hospital of Borgou, Faculty of Medicine, University of Parakou, Parakou, Republic of Benin.
²Department of General Surgery, Saint Jean de Dieu Hospital Tanguiéta (SJDHT), Tanguiéta, Republic of Benin.
³French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm), Bordeaux, France.
⁴Office of The Sanitary Zone of Kouandé-Kérou-Péhunco, Kouandé, Republic of Benin.
⁵Infection Control Program, Geneva University Hospital and Faculty of Medicine, Geneva, Switzerland.
⁶Faculty of Health Sciences, Cotonou, Bénin.
⁷Department of Surgical Sciences, Sapienza University of Roma, Roma, Italy.

Background: Surgical site infections (SSIs) are considered as result of the healthcare quality in hospitals. Objective: to study SSI at Saint Jean de Dieu Hospital Tanguieta (SJDHT), prior to the implementation of a permanent monitoring system. Method: transversal, and descriptive study with prospective data collection was performed from 1 July to 31 janvier 2017 in the department of general surgery of SJDHT. The hospital lacks in a microbiology unit. All patients who underwent surgery during this period were included and the monitoring lasted one month. SSIs diagnostic was carried out according to WHO criteria as described in the Practical Guide for the Prevention of Nosocomial Infections published in 2002. Statistical tests (χ-square and Student’s t-test) were applied and p < 0.05 were statistically significant. Results: Of 343 patients recorded, 105 (30.6%) had SSI. Their age averaged 40.3 years and the sex-ratio (men/women) was 2.8. The emergency surgery resulted in a 50.0% rate of SSI (p = 0.00). The SSI rate for clean and clean-contaminated surgery was 6.3% against 94.6% for infected surgery (p = 0.00). The SSI rates were 100% and 66.7% for NNISS = 2 and NNISS = 1 (p = 0.00), respectively. Superficial SSI rate was 13.3%, while deep SSI and organ/space SSI were 46.7% and 40%, respectively. The hospital stay of patients with SSI was three times longer than the length of patients without SSI (p = 0.00). Conclusion: SSIs are real burden at SJDHT. Appropriate measures must be adopted to reduce its prevalence.

Surgical Site Infection, Class of Surgery, Emergency, Benin

Hodonou, M. , Tamou, B. , Romaric Tobome, S. , Hessou, T. , Akpata, R. , Boukari, A. , Otchoun, U. , Haoudou, R. , Priuli, G. , Allodé, S. , Kedalo, G. , Abbas, M. , Mehinto, D. and Caronna, R. (2023) Surveillance of Surgical Site Infections: A Public Health Emergency in a Regional Hospital of Northern Benin. A Prospective Observational Pilot Study. Surgical Science, 14, 38-45. doi: 10.4236/ss.2023.141005.