Bacterial skin infections among patients with hemoglobinopathies

OBJECTIVE: Hemoglobinopathies are a common problem in our locality, yet there were no previous studies concerning skin lesions among those patients. We sought to find out the most common skin lesions among patients with hemoglobinopathies and the frequency of occurrence of bacterial skin infections in those patients.

METHODS: A total of 168 patients with bacterial skin infections were included in this study. The specimens were collected from outpatients dermatology departments of 5 main hospitals in different areas in Basrah governorate, Iraq (hospital-based study) from March 2002 to October 2002. The patients were divided into 2 groups according to the type of hemoglobin on electrophoresis. The first group included 35 patients with bacterial skin infections and hemoglobinopathies while the second one included 133 patients with normal hemoglobin.

RESULTS: Recurrent bacterial skin infections was reported in 30 out of 35 patients with hemoglobinopathies (85.7%) and 45 out of 133 in those with normal hemoglobin (33.8%). In addition, Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) were isolated from patients with hemoglobinopathies (74.3%) and gram negative bacteria (42.9%).

CONCLUSION: The study revealed that patients with hemoglobinopathies were more susceptible to recurrent bacterial skin infections than those with normal hemoglobin. In addition, S. aureus and gram negative bacteria were isolated more commonly from patients with hemoglobinopathies.