Author: Henry Clayton Ross

Co-Authors: Caroline Corley, BS, MS3, MUSC, Charleston, SC; Carter M. Powell, BS, Mindy Engevik, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Regenerative Medicine & Cell Biology, MUSC, Charleston, SC; Michael G. Schmidt, Ph.D., Professor, Microbiology & Immunology, MUSC, Charleston, SC; Lisa Steed, Ph.D., Professor, Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, MUSC, Charleston, SC; Arman Kilic, MD, Associate Professor, Surgery, MUSC, Charleston; Steven A. Kahn, MD, Associate Professor, Surgery, MUSC, Charleston, SC; Deepak K. Ozhathil, MD, Assistant Professor, Surgery, MUSC, Charleston, SC.

Introduction: Bacterial colonization of wounds is the primary contributor to graft loss and delayed wound healing in burn care. Multiple studies have linked bacterial counts with graft loss and specific microbes with delayed wound healing. Conventional microbial culture methods have yielded information on bacteria capable of colonizing wounds, but analysis of the complex microbial community in these wounds is lacking. Although Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) technology represents a promising alternative to traditional culturing, this technology has not been validated in burn wounds. Our study hypothesizes that NGS will be non-inferior to traditional culture-based methods in characterizing the wound microbiota.