Infected wounds...

S

Sgt.D

Joined
Nov 7, 2000
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I recently saw "Cast Away". How much of a chance do you think it is that the wounds he got wouldn't be infected? I guess some gangrene would have made the film less exiting....

I would really like to hear opinions from both experts and non-experts here. Some field advice for keeping wounds uninfected would be nice too.

Daniel

 
From reading many funguses have anti-bacterial properties,for example puffballs, just the right size and can be carried easily. Spruce and fir sap can be put on burns and surface wounds, this I've tried several times on minor burns using Grand Fir sap blisters that are just right for popping and dabbing on a burn. Garlic oil is good for sterilizing wounds and even works better than some modern antibiotics on drug resistant bacteria

Deeper wounds where a contaminant was carried into the body are something else.
 
I've heard that sea water is very good for keeping wounds from becoming infected. Does anyone know if this is true or not? If it *is* true, would it help if the wound if already infected?
 
I've read anecdotes that doctors held prisoner is Nazi concentration camps would deliberately expose infected or gangrenous wounds of their fellow prisoners to flies. The fly would lay its eggs, and the resulting maggots would debride the wound, eating only the necrotic tissue. Once the wound was 'cleaned' in this manner he would scrape away the maggots and dress the wound as best he could.
 
I too have heard that saltwater is good for wounds.

And if you read the new Army Survival Manual, they give instructions for Maggot Therapy, which goes something like this.

1) Expose wound to flies.

2) Allow maggots to develop and begin to eat at the wound.

3) Watch edges of wound, check for sensation, when pain goes from dull ache to fresh pain, maggots are done with dead stuff.

4) Flush maggots out with your urine, the ammonia in it will act to sanitize the wound to some extent.

5) Cover and begin to decide when will be the apropriate time to tell new acquaintances for maximum shock effect.

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I've heard it said as folk remedy, that sunlight is the best disinfectant. This makes sense in a way, most bacteria culture best in a warm, moist, and preferably dark UV free environments.

Maybe exposing whatever bandages/dressings you have to harsh sunlight for several hours after cleaning would lessen the chance of infection.

I saw the maggot idea on the movie gladiator, wondered if there was anything to it.
 
Maggot therapy is for real. A good friend of mine was treated in an army hospital in Europe that way after he suffered terrible injuries and was left for dead on D-day. The only difference I see in what is posted above from what I have learned about it is there is no need to flush or scrape away the maggots. They will only eat dead flesch. When the dead flesch is gone, they will starve, hatch or leave on their own.

A good remedy for infection is to put fat bacon on the wound. It is very slow, will take a day or two to work, but it is very effective.

Dennis Rochkes
 
I was told that maggots WILL continue to eat live flesh if they are not removed after they have eaten the dead flesh.The pain will tell you when that has happened.
 
I'll try to answer some of these questions.
Should Tom Hanks wound have gotten infected?
Almost certainly.
The problem with his coral injury was that tiny pieces of coral would been left inside of his wound. Foreign bodies significantly increase the risk for infection.
He also was in a poor nutritional state that may add to poor wound healing.

Do topical agents prevent infection?
This is still debated even in the medical literature. No consensus, except in the case of puncture wounds and animal bites. I will tell you that all of the folk remedies I see listed in this post are NOT useful and may even be harmful. The best way to clean a wound (how it is done in the ER and OR) is copious irrigation with sterile saline. In a survival situation, purified water( iodine or filtered) would have to do; or even just clean water. Irrigate 1 liter per centimeter( 3 quarts per inch). The idea is not kill the germs in the wound, but to dilute their numbers so that your body's immune sytem can do the rest.

Burns are best treated in the field by just covering them with dry, sterile(clean if tha is all you have) dressing. If you have Silavadene cream (Rx) or Bacitracin ointment(OTC), you may apply them. There is no need to apply anything to 1st degree burns. More harm than good comes from applying many of the items listed in this post.

Last question; maggots. I really do not recommend this. Maggots do eat only dead flesh so they will debride dead tissue. Yes, there are cases where they have been used in modern medical care.

I hope this helps.

Ron Fuerst
 
Maggots are rarely used for debridement, and then primarily in burn units. They are raised in a sterile environment from eggs, so that they are aseptic (no germs). They will indeed debride right up to, but stop at, healthy tissue.

So, why aren't they used more? Because of the 'gag' factor on the patient and staff. Convincing ANYONE that you are doing the right thing is rather difficult, to say the least.

Walt
 
The Blowfly maggot is in use in modern medicine. It eats the necrotic flesh while excreting an anaseptic substance (to protect itself) that has the benifit of disenfecting the wound. No need to raise 'em in a sterile environment, they clean up as they go.

Dan

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Go Get 'em Gear
 
Wimps! Just fill the wound with gunpowder which you extracted from cartridges out of your M-16 magazine after pulling the bullets with your teeth, then touch it off with a match. Be sure to grimace realistically for the camera. I think I saw this on a Rambo movie.
 
the maggot therapy thing was in an issue of Discover magazine a year or so ago. They actually work really well for taking care of gangrene, and as was said are only not in wide use because of the disgust factor.

The problem with using the things in the woods is that in the hospital they're nearly sterile. In the woods, the fly probably just landed on a pile of bear crap. Do you really want THAT walking around in your open wound?

 
<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by shadowfax:
The problem with using the things in the woods is that in the hospital they're nearly sterile. In the woods, the fly probably just landed on a pile of bear crap. Do you really want THAT walking around in your open wound?

</font>
Click to expand...

If your wound is already infected to that point, it's a little beyond the point you need to worry about a fly's foot worth of ****
biggrin.gif


Dan



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Go Get 'em Gear
 
Extreamly interesting,all. I'd read about the maggot therapy before but had forgotten about it. Does anyone know about negative effects of the maggot-therapy? (besides that the thought of having maggots crawling around in the wound is quite disgusting.)

Best regards
Daniel
 
Oh well this may not sound right as it outside our norms and such, but frankly if youre injured and you need to clean and dress the wound as best as possible why not use your own Urine. yes this sounds "Nasty" but face it urine is the best sterile liquide plus it contains, proteins, and minerals that will help clean and heal the wound.
Also as others have suggested using naturally found medicinal flora may work, but face it if youre out there and dont know what med flora touse, wouldnt it be safe to bee on a piece of bark, into recepticle of somekind, then dress the wound?
Maggotts are and do work. however, prolong exposure may be a tad bit of a "bite"
 
Maggot therapy was commonly used in American hospitals in the 1930's when my mother was in nursing school. Jars of maggots were kept and the physicians applied them to cases of gangrene. One of my mother's classmates got to practice this therapy when she was an Army nurse at Corregidor. (She still despises MacArthur.)

Battle wounds are the most filthy things imaginable. Bullet wounds are especially treacherous when it comes to contamination. The Army found that exit wounds typically exhibited more infection than entrance wounds.
 
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