Wound swabs and antibiotics in patients with a diabetic foot

Is it recommended to take wound swabs in patients with the diabetic foot and use antibiotics based on susceptibility testing?

Andrew Boulton: The superficial swab — because we all carry many commensals on our skin and you are going to grow half a dozen organisms and heaven knows if any of them is relevant. I think, as I said [see: First-line antibiotics for diabetic foot ulcers], forget the wound swab, go deep into the wound itself after debridement. Look at the infected tissue, take a snip, straight to the laboratory. Do not hang around.