The findings of a new study may save the lives of severely burned patients. Researchers from Spain say by correctly identifying a person's risk for a certain type of pneumonia and treating it specifically, the risk of subsequent death can be reduced.
Pneumonia is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in burn victims.
In a study reported in this month's Chest , researchers from the University Hospital of Getafe in Madrid looked at the different types of pneumonia and various intervention options for each. There are three different types of pneumonia, categorized by the cause of the condition. While systemic antibiotics can help one type and topical antibiotics another, the last type, exogenous infections, or those caused by bacteria picked up in the hospital, require a high level of hygiene which is achieved through a four-step process. Patients are first given a short cycle of systemic antibiotics followed by oral antibiotics. This is followed by hygiene and samples taken from the throat and rectum.