Burns

Throughout history fires have made clear marks on society. Today, we still face a relatively large number of burn victims whose injury or death is caused by either inhalation of smoke or direct thermal cutaneous/mucosal injury. The vast majority of burn patients have minor burns that can be treated safely in the emergency room. The burn mortality among adults in New Zealand was recorded over a 10-year period. In 1988, hospital admission frequency was 251/million/year, a figure comparable to those from the United States, Canada, and Finland. Mortality was 19.2/million/year [1].