ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the experiments as "the animal burn model". Bacterial interference can be studied in patients with large burns during their stay in the hospital. The material for the clinical investigations consisted of patients admitted to the Burns Unit of Karolinska Hospital during an earlier 5-year period, 1954 to 1958 and a later 5-year period, 1962 to 1966. From the observations of these "human burn models" one could draw certain cautious conclusions as to the benefit (or damage) of antimicrobial prophylaxis and therapy, both topical and systemic, that was given to the severely burned patients. It is generally agreed that large burns, like other extensive skin damage, produce an environment well suited for bacterial proliferation. The wounds can then easily be colonized by bacteria resistant to the given antibiotic, and this colonization takes place at an early, critical stage of the disease when the patient has a low general resistance to infections.
