INFECTION IN EMERGENCY AND TRAUMA SURGERY: PREVENTION, DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT

Abstract

Infection remains the major cause of morbidity and mortality in trauma patients and in patients submitted to emergency operations, despite preventive strategies and potent antibiotics. The infection can appear as wound infection at the site of injury or at the route employed for its repair. The most important kind of infection is the nosocomial one, referring to those that occur remote from the site of injury or operation as pneumonia, urinary tract infection, and related to the intravascular catheter. The number of bacteria, its virulence and poor host defense are determinants of infection. Shock, hypoxemia, blood transfusion, systemic hypothermia, malnutrition, chronic alcoholism, diabetes are factors that predispose to infection. To avoid this condition, prevention begins with appropriate local and systemic practices of infection control.