Bacterial infection significantly impedes wound healing. Clinical diagnosis of wound infections is subjective and suboptimal, in part because bacteria are invisible to the naked eye during clinical examination. Moreover, bacterial infection can be present in asymptomatic patients, leading to missed opportunities for diagnosis and treatment. We developed a prototype handheld autofluorescence (AF...

INTRODUCTION Wounds can be colonized by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). METHODS We evaluated the prevalence of S. aureus and MRSA in the wounds of patients treated at Basic Health Units in Brazil and identified risk factors associated with their presence. RESULTS The prevalence rates of S. aureus and MRSA were 51.5% and 8.7%, respectively. There was a correlation between...

QUESTION How does water compare with other solutions for cleansing wounds? REVIEW SCOPE Included studies compared water with other solutions for cleansing acute or chronic wounds or with no cleansing and reported objective outcome measures. Studies assessing cleansing solutions as part of dental procedures, prophylaxis, preoperative or operative procedures, and those of patients with burns or u...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the results and benefits obtained from the topical use of negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) in patients with infected wounds. METHODS This was a retrospective study of 20 patients (17 males and three females, mean age 42 years) with infected wounds treated using NPWT. The infected wounds were caused by trauma. The treatment system used was VAC.® (Vacuum Assisted Clo...

OBJECTIVES Negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) has been used to help manage open wounds. Surgeons also often use local antibiotic depot as adjunctive therapy in an effort to reduce infection rates. These 2 techniques have been reported to be used in conjunction, but there are little data to support this practice. We sought to compare the contamination levels of wounds treated with the common...

After an outbreak of leptospirosis in workers who participated in cleaning a pond during September 1999 in Thailand, a serologic survey was conducted. Among a cohort of 104 persons from one village who participated in pond cleaning activity, 43 (41.3%) were seropositive for immunoglobulin M antibodies against Leptospira, indicating recent infection. Only 17 (39.5%) of 43 seropositive persons re...

BACKGROUND Topical negative pressure (TNP) therapy is becoming increasingly popular for all kinds of wounds. Its clinical and cost effectiveness is unclear. METHODS A search of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on TNP in adult patients with all kinds of wounds in all settings was undertaken in Medline, Embase, Cinahl (to October 2007) and the Cochrane Library (to issue 4, 2007). Information...

Wound complications such as infection continue to in ict enormous nancial and patient quality-of-life burdens.The traditional practice of using antiseptics and antibiotics to prevent and/or treat infections has been questioned with increasing concerns about the cytoxitity of antiseptics and proliferation of antibiotic resistant bacteria. Solutions of sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl), commonly known ...

OBJECTIVE Drawtex's ability to remove pathogens and associated virulence factors has been demonstrated in vitro. A model of burn wound infection was used to characterize the in vivo impact of this dressing on infection and wound healing. METHODS Paired burn wounds were created on the dorsum of Sprague Dawley rats and were inoculated with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Ani...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the use of a topical oxygen emulsion (TOE), consisting of a supersaturated oxygen suspension using perfluorocarbon components, on second-degree burns and partial-thickness wounds. DESIGN Oxygen is a required substance for various aspects of wound repair, and increased oxygen tension in a wound has been shown to stimulate phagocytosis and to reduce the incidence of wou...