Surgical site infection risk had little to do with the amount or kind of bacteria present at the incision before, during, or after surgery, researchers found. | Photo: Phito: Courtesy Dr. Tina Holberg Phil

Horses undergoing colic surgery, as with any medical procedure, run the risk of developing bacterial infection along the incision line. But, in a recent study, researchers in Britain were surprised to find that the risk of post-colic-surgery infections had little to do with the amount or kind of bacteria present at the incision before, during, or immediately after surgery.

“The development of surgical site infection (SSI) is multifactorial and not just as simple as a direct link to the bacteria present around the time of surgery,” said Cajsa Isgren, BVetMed, Dip. ECVS MRCVS, an equine surgeon at the University of Liverpool Equine Hospital, in the U.K.

“Our research highlights this,” she said, underlining the fact that the amount of bacteria cultured during and just after surgery had no bearing on the risk of development of SSI “and in the horses that did develop an infection, in all cases it was a different bacteria from the one cultured at the time of surgery