Burn patients are highly susceptible to infection because they are generally immunosuppressed and have open wound of avascular and necrotic tissue. The sources of burn wound infection are the health care workers, the environment and the patients themselves. Protection from cross-contamination, using effective antimicrobial agents, early escharectomy and closure of wound, proper antimicrobial prophylaxis, and frequent evaluation of burn wound are important for preventing burn wound infection.
Anti-Infective Agents ; Burns ; Delivery of Health Care ; Humans ; Wound Infection

No abstract available.
Burns*

No abstract available.
Burns*

The campaign for proper use of antibiotics in Korea was begun in 2011 by the Korean Society of Infectious Diseases and the Korean Society of Chemotherapy. This article was prepared as a review of worldwide antibiotic campaigns. The European Antibiotic Awareness Day of the European Union and Get Smart: Know When Antibiotics Work, of the USA, are introduced here. These antibiotic campaigns are prepared and organized by government and have partnerships with medical association. The event known as annual awareness day or antibiotic week is held annually and the campaign materials are available online or from printed material. These campaigns have widened the range and depth of activity since the begining of the campaign. Therefore, the Korean antibiotic campaign could obtain some useful suggestions regarding successful conduct of campaign activity from these campaigns.
Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Communicable Diseases ; European Union ; Korea

BACKGROUND: Burn wounds lack normal barriers that protect against pathogenic bacteria, and burn patients are easily colonized and infected by Staphylococcus aureus. Toxic shock syndrome (TSS) is a rare but fatal disease caused by S. aureus. A lack of detectable antibodies to TSS toxin-1 (TSST-1) in serum indicates susceptibility to TSS. METHODS: A total of 207 patients (169 men and 38 women; median age, 42.5 yr) admitted to a burn center in Korea were enrolled in this study. The serum antibody titer to TSST-1 was measured by sandwich ELISA. S. aureus isolates from the patients' nasal swab culture were tested for TSST-1 toxin production by PCR-based detection of the TSST-1 toxin gene. RESULTS: One hundred seventy-four (84.1%) patients showed positive results for antibody against TSST-1. All patients aged > or =61 yr (n=28) and <26 months (n=7) were positive for the anti-TSST-1 antibody. S. aureus was isolated from 70 patients (33.8%), and 58.6% of the isolates were methicillin resistant. Seventeen patients were colonized with TSST-1-producing S. aureus. The antibody positivity in these 17 carriers was 88.2%, and the positivity in the non-carriers was 83.7%. CONCLUSIONS: Most burn patients had antibody to TSST-1, and nasal colonization with TSST-1-producing S. aureus was associated with positive titers of anti-TSST-1 antibody. Additionally, patients with negative titers of anti-TSST-1 antibody might be susceptible to TSS.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Antibodies, Bacterial/*blood ; Bacterial Toxins/genetics/immunology/*metabolism ; Burns/blood/*immunology/*microbiology/pathology ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Enterotoxins/genetics/immunology/*metabolism ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Female ; Humans ; Infant ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Nasal Cavity/microbiology ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Prevalence ; Staphylococcal Infections/epidemiology ; Staphylococcus aureus/isolation & purification/*metabolism ; Superantigens/genetics/immunology/*metabolism ; Young Adult

BACKGROUND: Vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) are multi-drug resistant organisms that have emerged as important nosocomial pathogens in recent years. Patients with burn injury are highly vulnerable to VRE infection. We evaluated the colonization and infection rate of VRE among severe burn patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed VRE isolation in a tertiary hospital burn center from January 2000 to December 2003. We analyzed and compared the clinical characteristics of VRE colonized (isolated in rectal swab) and infected patients. We also analyzed the risk factors of mortality in VRE infection group by using univariate and multivariate analyses. RESULTS: VRE was isolated from 104 of severe burn patients. Mean percent of total body surface area of 104 patients was 45.43+/-22.15%. The most commonly isolated VRE was Enterococcus faecium (82.6%). The VRE infection rate of VRE colonization group was 19/93 (20.4%). There were no differences in clinical characteristics, underlying conditions, and isolates species between VRE colonization and infection groups. The mortality rate of VRE infection group was 40%. The risk factors for mortality were bacteremia (P=0.001) and mechanical ventilation (P=0.024) in univariate analysis. However, independent risk factor for death was only VRE bacteremia [odd ratio=32.803, 95% confidence interval (2.884, 373.129), P=0.005] in multivariate analysis. CONCLUSION: Significant portion of severe burn patients with VRE colonization could progress to VRE infection. Severe burn patients with VRE bacteremia have higher risk of death than patients without VRE bacteremia.
Bacteremia ; Body Surface Area ; Burn Units ; Burns* ; Colon ; Enterococcus ; Enterococcus faecium ; Humans ; Mortality* ; Multivariate Analysis ; Respiration, Artificial ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Factors* ; Tertiary Care Centers ; Vancomycin Resistance

BACKGROUND: Vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) are multi-drug resistant organisms that have emerged as important nosocomial pathogens in recent years. Patients with burn injury are highly vulnerable to VRE infection. We evaluated the colonization and infection rate of VRE among severe burn patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed VRE isolation in a tertiary hospital burn center from January 2000 to December 2003. We analyzed and compared the clinical characteristics of VRE colonized (isolated in rectal swab) and infected patients. We also analyzed the risk factors of mortality in VRE infection group by using univariate and multivariate analyses. RESULTS: VRE was isolated from 104 of severe burn patients. Mean percent of total body surface area of 104 patients was 45.43+/-22.15%. The most commonly isolated VRE was Enterococcus faecium (82.6%). The VRE infection rate of VRE colonization group was 19/93 (20.4%). There were no differences in clinical characteristics, underlying conditions, and isolates species between VRE colonization and infection groups. The mortality rate of VRE infection group was 40%. The risk factors for mortality were bacteremia (P=0.001) and mechanical ventilation (P=0.024) in univariate analysis. However, independent risk factor for death was only VRE bacteremia [odd ratio=32.803, 95% confidence interval (2.884, 373.129), P=0.005] in multivariate analysis. CONCLUSION: Significant portion of severe burn patients with VRE colonization could progress to VRE infection. Severe burn patients with VRE bacteremia have higher risk of death than patients without VRE bacteremia.
Bacteremia ; Body Surface Area ; Burn Units ; Burns* ; Colon ; Enterococcus ; Enterococcus faecium ; Humans ; Mortality* ; Multivariate Analysis ; Respiration, Artificial ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Factors* ; Tertiary Care Centers ; Vancomycin Resistance

BACKGROUND: In pulmonary infection, serum procalcitonin levels increase rapidly, probably in response to sepsis-related cytokine release from neuroendocrine cells of bronchial epithelium and inflammatory cells. We applied procalcitonin assay in critically ill patients with bacterial pneumonia. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) and show diffuse infiltrations in their chest X-ray were included. Quantitative bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) culture (> or =10(4) CFU/mL) was performed in all cases on the 5th day of ICU admission. We excluded patients with structural lung disease, non-infectious lung infiltrations, and atypical infections such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Pneumocystis jiroveci, and viruses. Serum procalcitonin levels were measured semi-quantitatively by using PCT-Q kit. RESULTS: A total of 28 adult patients (M:F=23:5) were included: 11 (39.3%) medically-ill patients, 7 (25%) surgically-ill patients, and 10 (35.7%) burn patients. Serum procalcitonin level was <0.5 ng/mL in half of the cases (14/28) and > or =0.5 ng/mL in the remaining half of the cases. Compared to those with serum procalcitonin level of <0.5 ng/mL, patients with serum procalcitonin level of > or =0.5 ng/mL had more frequent mechanical ventilation, higher CRP/APACHE II scores/number of organ failure (P<0.05), and showed increased tendency for death (P=0.052). Positive bacterial BAL cultures were noted in 17 cases (60.7%). Of these, 7 cases (41.2%) showed serum procalcitonin level > or =0.5 ng/mL. CONCLUSIONS: High serum procalcitonin level seems to be closely associated with the severity and poor prognosis in critically ill patients with bacterial pneumonia. However, pneumonia could not be excluded with low level of procalcitonin among ICU patients.
Adult ; Bronchoalveolar Lavage ; Burns ; Calcitonin ; Critical Illness ; Epithelium ; Humans ; Intensive Care Units ; Lung ; Lung Diseases ; Mycobacterium tuberculosis ; Neuroendocrine Cells ; Pneumocystis jirovecii ; Pneumonia ; Pneumonia, Bacterial ; Prognosis ; Protein Precursors ; Respiration, Artificial ; Thorax

BACKGROUND: The study on bacteremia helps empirically select the proper antibiotics before the results of culture test about causative pathogen. The purpose of this study is to investigate causative pathogen in bloodstream infection, changing aspects based on elapsed time after burn, relationship with other sites and resistance of important causative pathogen against antibiotics through analysis on bacteria isolated from blood culture of patients hospitalized in burn intensive care unit (BICU). MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective study was conducted targeting patients hospitalized in BICU from January 2007 to June 2011. Changes of causative pathogen in bloodstream infection based on elapsed time after injury were analyzed. We would like to examine the relationship between bloodstream infection and infection on other body parts by comparing results of cultures in burn wound site, sputum, urine and catheter tip. Antibiotics resistance patterns of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Acinetobacter baumannii, Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus species, and Klebsiella pneumoniae were studied. RESULTS: A total of 2,337 burn patients were hospitalized in BICU for 54 months. Causative pathogen was cultured in blood cultures from 397 patients (17.0%). P. aeruginosa (169, 30.1%) was the most cultured and A. baumannii (107, 19.0%) and S. aureus (81, 14.4%) were followed. It was confirmed that the relative frequency of A. baumannii tended to get lower as the period got longer after injury, but the relative frequency of K. pneumoniae got higher as the period got longer after injury. With comparison without bacteremia, P. aeruginosa bacteremia showed high probability in which the same bacteria were cultured in wound site, sputum and cathether tip, and A. baumannii bacteremia and candida bacteremia had high probability in sputum, and urine and catheter tip, respectively. 95.9% of P. aeruginosa and 95.3% of A. baumannii showed the resistance against carbapenem. 96.3% of S. aureus was methicillin resistant and 36.2% of Enterococcus species were vancomycin resistant. 75.0% of K. pneumonia were extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL)-producing bacteria. CONCLUSIONS: Since the highly antibiotic resistant microorganisms were isolated from the patients hospitalized in BICU during early phase, the empirical selection of antibiotics targeting these pathogens should be considered before the results of microbiologic culture test. In addition, use of empirical antifungal agent after 1 week of injury can be considered for patients who have risk factor of fungal infection.
Acinetobacter baumannii ; Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Bacteremia ; Bacteria ; beta-Lactamases ; Burns ; Candida ; Catheters ; Critical Care ; Enterococcus ; Human Body ; Humans ; Intensive Care Units ; Klebsiella pneumoniae ; Methicillin Resistance ; Pneumonia ; Pseudomonas aeruginosa ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Factors ; Rivers ; Sputum ; Staphylococcus aureus ; Vancomycin

Actinomyces israelii is a normal flora of the oral cavity and gastrointestinal tract, and can cause chronic suppurative granuloma. We report here on a case of tongue actinomycosis. The patient was a 71-year old woman who had undergone surgery for rectal cancer 4 years previously. During the follow-up study using PET-CT, hypermetabolic activities were recognized at the lung hilum, mediastinum and tongue base. Bronchoscopic biopsy sample of the tongue base ulcer revealed histopathologically sulfur granule and aggregations of filamentous bacteria was diagnosed as actinomycosis of the tongue.
Actinomyces ; Actinomycosis ; Bacteria ; Biopsy ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Gastrointestinal Tract ; Granuloma ; Humans ; Lung ; Mediastinum ; Mouth ; Rectal Neoplasms ; Sulfur ; Tongue ; Ulcer