Differentiating necrotizing soft tissue infections from cellulitis by soft tissue infectious fluid analysis: a pilot study

Table 3 Comparison of (a) Gram stain smear between NSTI group and cellulitis group, (b) infectious fluid culture between NSTI group and cellulitis group

	NSTI group N = 12^a	Cellulitis group N = 8^a
(a)
Gram-positive coccus	3^b	0
Gram-negative bacilli	4^b	1
No bacteria were found	6	7
(b)
Vibrio vulnificus	3	0
Methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA)	2^c	0
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)	1	0
Klebsiella Variicola	1^c	0
Proteus species	1^c	0
No growth	6	8

^aTwo patients in NSTI group and four patients in cellulitis group were excluded due to insufficient samples for fluid culture
^bOne Gram stain smear ample in NSTI group showed both gram-positive coccus and gram-negative bacilli
^cOne infectious fluid culture showed polymicrobial infection with MSSA, Klebsiella Variicola and Proteus species

ISSN: 1749-7922