Wound contaminated

This material is hazardous through inhalation, penetration through broken skin, and ingestion. Wound contamination results in death of skeletal muscles and soft tissue. Symptoms of ingestion include nausea and diarrhea usually without vomiting. Inhalation produces pulmonary complications. 

Botulism is most commonly caused by ingestion of a neurotoxin produced by Clostridium botulinum in improperly canned food. Poisoning may also occur after wound contamination with the organism. Infant botulism may occur when spores of the organism germinate and manufacture the toxin in the intestinal tract of infants. Botulinum toxin works by inhibiting ACh release at all cholinergic synapses. 

Garibaldi, R.A. et al., The impact of pre-operative skin disinfection on preventing intraoperative wound contamination. Infect. Control. Hosp. Epidemiol. 9, 109-113, 1988. 

Freedom from Particulate and Toxic Wound Contaminants... 

Fortunately, skin or wound contamination rarely presents a life-threatening risk to either patients or health care personnel (5). The best possible scenario is decontamination in the field before transport however, following an attack with a radiologic dispersion device (ROD), patients suffering trauma will most likely present to emergency departments before undergoing external contamination. 

Decontamination of conventional wounds in a contaminated environment continues to be a major concern. Researchers have looked at the effect of bleach decontamination on damaged skin exposed to CWAs. Gold et al. (1994) evaluated the effects of water or diluted bleach (0.5%) as a wound decontaminant 2 min after hairless guinea pig was exposed to sulfur mustard. The study found that 0.5% hypochlorite and even water soaking for 5 min in a wound contaminated with sulfur mustard (20 mg/kg) cause greater necrosis than when no decontamination was carried out. This does not mean that the wound should not be decontaminated but rather that bleach soaking in the wound is not the route to decontaminant. 

Cooper, G., Ryan, J. and Galbraith, K. (1994), The surgical management in war of penetrating wounds contaminated with chemical warfare agents, J.R. Army Med. Corps., 140, 113-118. 

Haley RW, Culver DH, Morgan WM, et al. Identifying patients at high risk of surgical wound infection A simple multivariate index of patient susceptibility and wound contamination. Am J Epidemiol 1985 121 206-215. 

RA Garibaldi. Prevention of intraoperative wound contamination with chlorhexidine shower and scrub. J Hosp Infect 11 (Suppl B) 5-9, 1988. 

Wound Contamination Assessment Dilute Hypochlorite Solution Wound Exploration/Debridement... 

Wounds contaminated with magnesium take a long time to heal. Reacts violently with extinguishing agents such as water, halons. carbon dioxide smd powder. R IS and 17 need to be mentioned on the label of unstaUlized magnesium powder. 

Recent work has investigated the possibilities of modelling the speciation chemistry of actinides in wound fluids (Lunn 1990). This theoretical work supports the views expressed above that the initial physicochemical form determines the rate of mobilisation from the wound site. Thus, oxides are dissolved in wound fluids to a negligible extent even in the presence of strong chelators such as diethylenetriaminepentaacetate (DTPA). This may have important implications with respect to treatment of wound-contamination incidents where surgical excision is often combined with chelation therapy and wound washing with DTP A (Carbaugh et al. 1989). 

Further work by Piechowski et al. (1989) has proposed a metabolic model to assess internal exposure following a wound contamination incident. Results indicate that the internal contamination was a result of activity which passed through vascular injuries at the time of the incident and support the conclusion that chelation therapy should be started immediately whilst the decision to excise tissue may be resolved in a more leisurely and composed manner. 

Ronald E Bellamy and Russ Zajtchuk, eds.. Textbook of Military Medicine, Part I, Vol. 5, Conventional Warfare Ballistic, Blast and Burn Injuries (Washington, DC Walter Reed Army Medical Center 1990) p. 49. Copper sulfate is no longer recommended for treating wounds contaminated with white phosphorus. Ibid, p. 340. 

PIECHOWSKI, J., Evaluation of systemic exposure resulting from wounds contaminated by radioactive products, Indian Bull. Radiat. Prot. 18 1-2 (1995) 8-14. 

Opportunistic pathogen, may infect wounds, contaminates burns, draining sinuses and decubitus ulcers, cause urinary tract infections, eye infections, and meningitis. 

Wound contamination the presence of bacteria within a wound without any host reaction. 

---