The study, published April 10 in Science Translational Medicine, collected data from 204 patients undergoing spinal surgery. The researchers collected bacteria living in the nose, skin and stool of patients before surgery and 90 days after, and compared it to any infections that later occurred.
Researchers found that the species of bacteria living on the skin of patients’ backs varied, but there were some patterns:
- Bacteria on the upper back around the neck and shoulders were most similar to those in the nose.
- Bacteria on the lower back were similar to those in the gut and stool.
- The relative frequency of bacterial presence in skin regions mirrored how often they appeared in infections post-surgery in the same region of the spine.
- Of infections after spine surgery, 86% genetically matched skin bacteria before surgery.
- Nearly 60% of infections were resistant to preventive antibiotics administered during surgery, the antiseptic used to clean the skin before incision, or both.
“It turns out the source of this antibiotic resistance was also not acquired in the hospital but from microbes the patient had already been living with unknowingly,” the study authors wrote in a piece published in The Conversation. “They likely acquired these antibiotic-resistant microbes through prior antibiotic exposure, consumer products or routine community contact.”
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