Microbial Infection of Burn Wounds

Overview of Burns

Burns are damage to the skin caused by chemicals, electricity, heat, sunlight or nuclear radiation. Overall burn severity is determined based on the degree of tissue damage and the size of the area affected.

The tissue damage incurred is classified into three categories: first, second and third-degree burns. First-degree burns involve only damage to the topmost layer of the skin, the epidermis. Second-degree burns contain damage to the epidermis as well the dermis, the underlying layer of the skin. Third-degree burns refer to damage or destruction of the entire depth of the skin as well as tissues that lie beneath it. These are three-dimensional injuries with damage extending in all direction from the center of the injury.

The area of a burn is often determined using the “Rule of Nines,” which divides the body up into sections that correspond with approximately 9% of the body’s surface area.

Burn Infections

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Section 2

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Treatment

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Conclusion

Overall paper length should be 3,000 words, with at least 3 figures.

References

Church, D., Elsayed, S., Reid, O., Winston, B., Lindsay, R. (2006) Burn Wound Infections. Clinical Microbiology Reviews, 19 (2), 403–434.

McVay, C.S., Velasquez, M., Fralick, J.A. (2007). Phage therapy of Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection in a mouse burn wound model. Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy 51 (6), 1934–1938.

Murray, C., Hospenthal, D.R. (2008). "Burn Wound Infections" emedicine 16 Apr 2008. http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/213595-overview (Accessed 6 Apr 2009).

Edited by student of Joan Slonczewski for BIOL 238 Microbiology, 2009, Kenyon College.