an example of a colonized wound
An infection means that germs are in or on the body and make you sick, which results in signs and symptoms such as fever, pus from a wound, a high white blood cell count, or pneumonia. Germs can also be in or on the body, but not make you sick. This is called colonization. An infection means that germs are in or on the body and make you sick, which results in signs and symptoms such as fever, pus from a wound, a high white blood cell count, or pneumonia. Germs can also be in or on the body, but not make you sick. Healthcare professionals should have a good understanding of wound management issues, including wound colonisation and infection, as failure to distinguish between the two may result in inappropriate patient care and potentially serious complications. Colonization-defined as the presence of replicating microorganisms, which do not cause injury to the host. Examples of bacterial wound colonization would be Staphylococcus epidermis and Corynebacterium sp. whose presence have been shown to increase the rate of wound closure(). Contamination in the wound is defined as the presence of bacteria, without the multiplication of that bacteria. When the bacteria enter the wound bed from the surrounding tissue there is not automatically an infection until the numbers increase. Colonization of the wound is defined as increase in number of the bacteria. Key Points. The prevention of wound infection should be a primary management objective for all healthcare practitioners. Infections of the surgical wound are one of the most common hospital acquired infections and are an important cause of morbidity and mortality. N onhealing wound—this may be the only clue that the wound is critically colonized. Normal healing is a decrease in wound size of 20% to 40% in 4 weeks. 1. E xudative wound—serous exudate is common. An infection is the detrimental colonization of a host organism by a foreign species. In an infection, the infecting organism seeks to utilize the host's resources to multiply (usually at the expense of the host). Clean Wounds. The wound is judged to be clean when the operative procedure does not enter into a normally colonized viscus or lumen of the body. Elective inguinal hernia repair is an example of a clean operative procedure. Staphylococcus aureus, often referred to as staph, is a very common bacteria. Approximately 25-30% of healthy people carry this organism on their skin or in their nose. Sometimes, staph causes an infection. Staph bacteria are the most common causes of skin infections in the United States.
Inguinal hernia