Postoperative wound infection is an infection in the tissues of the incision and operative area. It can occur from 1 day to many years after an operation but commonly occurs between the fifth and tenth days after surgery.
There are four categories of wound contamination. They include clean wounds with no gross contamination, lightly contaminated wounds (open wound without fracture or stomach or biliary surgeries), heavily contaminated wounds (open trauma with associated fractures or intestinal surgeries), and infected wounds in which infection is obviously present prior to the surgical incision.Incidence and Prevalence: Postoperative wound infections account for 14% to 16% of the 2 million nosocomial infections in the US, and 77% of the deaths of surgical patients can be traced back to surgical wound infection. The greatest threat is Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) because antibiotic choice is limited for patients infected. MRSA infections are exhibiting a broader range of resistance to antibiotics and are becoming more common(Singhal). Serious post-surgical infections cause approximately 8,000 deaths per year in the United States (McMillan). |
Source: Medical Disability Advisor