Diabetes mellitus is a global pandemic, especially in Southeast Asia.
Diabetic foot infection (DFI) is a common complication of this condition and causes significant morbidity and mortality in those affected. There is a lack of locally published data on the types of microorganisms and empirical
antibiotics being prescribed. This paper highlights the importance of local microorganism culture and
antibiotic prescription trends among
diabetic foot patients in a tertiary care hospital in central Malaysia. This is a retrospective, cross-sectional study of data taken from January 2010 to December 2019 among 434 patients admitted with
diabetic foot infections (DFIs) using the Wagner classification. Patients between the ages of 58 and 68 years old had the highest rate of
infection. Pseudomonas Aeruginosa, Proteus spp., and Proteus mirabilis appeared to be the most isolated Gram-negative microorganisms, and Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus agalactiae, and MRSA appeared to be the most common Gram-positive microorganisms. The most common empirical
antibiotics prescribed were
ampicillin/sulbactam, followed by
ciprofloxacin and
ceftazidime, and the most common therapeutic
antibiotics prescribed were
ampicillin/sulbactam,
ciprofloxacin, and
cefuroxime. This study could be immensely pertinent in facilitating future empirical
therapy guidelines for treating
diabetic foot infections.