Is a wound swab for microbiological analysis supportive in the clinical assessment of infection of a chronic wound?

Aim: To determine whether bacteriological analysis of a wound swab is supportive in the clinical assessment of infection of a chronic wound.

Methods: Patients attending an outpatient wound clinic who had endured a chronic wound for more than 3 weeks were clinically assessed for infection. In addition, standardized wound swabs were taken according to the Levine technique and the microbiological findings of the swabs compared with the clinical assessment of the wounds.

Results: There was no significant relationship between the clinical assessments of the chronic wounds and the qualitative or quantitative bacteriological results of the swabs.

Conclusion: Microbiological analysis of wound swabs taken from chronic wounds to support clinical assessment of the wounds is waste of time and money. It may be preferable to assess chronic wounds clinically, however, validation studies of these signs and symptoms are needed.