Peri-operative antibiotics and post-operative infection

The risk of post-operative infection is increased by various factors:

• The age of an animal: very young or very old animals are more susceptible to infection
• Pre-existing systemic disease
• Administration of corticosteroids or other immunosuppressive drugs
• Stress, shock or hypothermia
• Poor surgical technique with failure to adhere to good surgical technique
• Use of immunosuppressed strains of animals (e.g. nude or scid mice)
• Presence of foreign material e.g. indwelling cannula
• Virulence of bacteria in the environment and scale of any bacterial inoculum into the animal
• Operations with a high risk of compromised aseptic technique e.g. surgery on the gastro-intestinal tract