Indian journal of medical microbiology
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Bacterial translocation is the invasion of indigenous intestinal bacteria through the gut mucosa to normally sterile tissues and the internal organs. Sometimes instead of bacteria, inflammatory compounds are responsible for clinical symptoms as in systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS). The difference between sepsis and SIRS is that pathogenic bacteria are isolated from patients with sepsis but not with those of SIRS. ⋯ The factors released from the gut and carried in the mesenteric lymphatics but not in the portal blood are enough to cause multi-organ failure. Thus, bacterial translocation may be a promoter of sepsis but not the initiator. This paper reviews literature on the translocation of gut flora and its role in causing sepsis.
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Indian J Med Microbiol · Oct 2013
Mortality due to septicemia at a level 1 Indian trauma care centre: an epidemiological analysis.
Trauma contributes to a significant proportion of mortality and morbidity in the economically productive age group of 15-45 years. Infections are the second most important cause of death in trauma patients after head injury. Despite advances in trauma care, deaths due to septicemia are increasing. ⋯ The average age of the deceased trauma victims was 35.9 years and the median length of stay in hospital before death was 27 days. In our study, a high proportion of patients had grown pathogens in significant counts from respiratory specimens (36%) and blood (23%) during ante-mortem period, which may have contributed to their fatal outcome. Infections are one of the most common and fatal complications following trauma and complicate the recovery of a significant number of injured patients.