What Causes Surgical Site Infection

Over the years advances in surgery has made the risk of surgical site infection an all-time low. A surgical site infection is an infection that occurs surgery in the part of the body where the surgery took place. Germs can infect a surgical wound through different ways such as contact, surgical instrument, air born bacteria and germ that are already on the body and spread into the wound. Surgical infection rates have been reported to range from less than 1% to 5% per year. Advances in infection control, sterilization methods, ventilation, surgical techniques. There’re many different risk factor and activities that a former patient that underwent surgery can develop a surgical site infection.

There are many factors that can influence a surgical

Cigarette smoke inhibit the healing of wounds and decrease circulation to skin due to micro vascular obstruction and platelet aggeration and the increase of nonfunctional hemoglobin. The chemicals in cigarette smoke are an ongoing source of damage to cells throughout the body, and your immune system must continually work to fight off this damage. Eventually, immune system cannot keep up with all the damage caused by the smoke. In fact, new research shows that once weakened, the immune system may not even be able to send out antibodies to kill simple bacteria.

Malnutrition can also cause surgical site infection. The T-lymphocyte response has been associated with protein malnutrition, which is usually go along a deficiency of vitamins and other micronutrients in the body. The immune system is built of numerous types of white blood cells that have different functions in the body 's defense, with the lack of nutrients the immune system won’t work properly.

Diabetes and slow healing wounds. High levels of blood glucose caused by diabetes can, over time, affect the nerves and lead to poor blood circulation, making it hard for blood needed for skin repair to reach areas of the body affected by sores or wounds. Harmful molecules dicarbonyls are broken down material of glucose that interferes with controlling infections and antimicrobial peptides that help defend the

As people age their immune system become less effective. The immune system becomes less affective on distinguish self from non-self. Autoimmune disorders are common with this. The production of macrophages decrease, what are cells that ingest bacteria, cancer cell and other antigens. T cells respond les quickly to antigens. There are fewer with blood cells capable of responding to new antigens. When older age individual encounter a new antigen, the body is less able to remember and defend against it. They thymus begins to shrink to about 15 % of it normal size. They thymus is where the immune cell white blood cell and T lymphocytes mature. The amount of antibodies produce in response to an antigen is less in the elderly, and antibodies are less able to attach to