ABSTRACT
Despite many decades of wound healing research and related microbiology, meaningful insight into the impact that microoorganisms have on wound healing remains poorly understood. A recurring notion throughout this book suggests that many of the theories and interpreted ndings have been based principally on outmoded methods of inquiry. Wound care management aims to reduce or remove factors known to impede “normal” wound healing and where appropriate to manage the wound bioburden. Although in many wounds a reduction in the wound bioburden can be achieved with the use of debridement, appropriate wound dressings, topical antimicrobials, and systemic antibiotics, others will remain recalcitrant to antimicrobial agents. Wounds that are nonhealing and recalcitrant to antimicrobials constitute a signicant problem to patients and the healthcare profession. It is in these wounds, which are considered to harbor pathogens, that recent thinking indicates that biolm phenotype bacteria have a signicant role to play in delaying or preventing a chronic wound from healing.
