gas gangrene
Clostridial wound infection
Gas gangrene is a severe, often fatal bacterial infection in deep wounds.
The bacteria produce gas that accumulates in tissues, causing them to die rapidly.
The infection spreads quickly and requires emergency treatment—usually aggressive surgery to remove dead tissue, sometimes amputation.
Soldiers in the trenches often died of gas gangrene from shrapnel wounds.
- amputationSurgical limb removal
- wound careTreatment of bodily injuries
- open woundUnhealed break in skin
- necrosisLocalized cell death
- toxic shockSevere toxin-caused organ failure
pain · crepitus · tissue · debridement · emergency surgery · bubbles · shock · Clostridium · soil contamination · war wounds · surgical intervention · sepsis · antibiotics · mortality risk · organ failure · ischemia · festering · foul smell
- bacterial infectionsanthrax, botulism, cholera, diphtheria, lockjaw
- war ailmentstrench foot, trench fever, shell shock, combat fatigue, battle fatigue
- gangrenetissue death, putrefaction, mummification, rot, eschar
- necrosisnecrosis, tissue death, cell death, coagulative necrosis, caseous necrosis
- Chemical Warfarechemical weapons, poison gas, mustard gas, chlorine gas, phosgene
gas gangrenewound healing
Restoration after injury
tissue regeneration · recovery · granulation · tissue repair · scar formation