ABSTRACT
Introduction: Burns are among the main public health problems throughout the world especially in the developing countries. In Iran burn injuries causes significant morbidity and mortality, especially among the pediatric population. Infection remains the most common cause of death in the severely burned patients. The proper use of topical antimicrobial agents decreases the occurrence of bacterial resistance and sepsis
Objective: The purpose of this study was to compare two topical antimicrobial agents, Silver Sulfadiazine and Nitrofurazone, with respect to the rate of healing, infection and their treatment
Materials and Methods: This study was a quasi-experimental study that used convenience sampling for 5 months on 60 cases that were admitted in the pediatric burn ward at the burn center of the Sina hospital, Tabriz, East Azarbijan, in 2005. Research population consisted of children who were admitted in this center and from among them; the patients who met the characteristics of research samples were selected after explaining the study to their parents and receiving their permission. They were allocated in random into two groups [control and experimental]. The tools were a questionnaire and a checklist. In this research one group was dressed with Silver Sulfadiazine cream and another group with Nitrofurazone and they were replaced once per day. For burn status assessment, in dressing change time, the wounds were considered regarding to the infection criteria and presence of epithelialization and granulation tissue. Also for each patient, bacterial cultures were taken three times by a swab. Descriptive and analytical statistics were performed using the X[2]-test and T-test by means of SPSS software [version 11.5]
Results: Statistical analysis didn't show any significant difference between the two groups with regard to clinical signs of infection [P= 1.000] and microbiological study [P= 0.739]. Also there wasn't any significant difference between two groups with regard to re- epithelialization time [P= 0.763], hospitalization days [P=0.818] and cost of confinement [P= 0.969]
Conclusion: In this study, our hypothesis based on a difference between two topical antibacterial agents was rejected and it was seen that the efficacy of two drugs [Silver Sulfadiazine 1% cream and Nitrofurazone] were parallel. It indicated that over use of one drug can't be a reason for its efficacy. It seems that more attention should be paid on selecting the drug for burned patient treatment