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Use of Selective Decontamination in the Prevention of Infection After Accidental Irradiation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 June 2012

Itzhak Brook*
Affiliation:
Wound Infection Management Program, Experimental Hematology Department, Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute, Bethesda, MD 20889-5145
G. David Ledney
Affiliation:
Wound Infection Management Program, Experimental Hematology Department, Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute, Bethesda, MD 20889-5145
*
PO Box 70412, Chevy Chase, MD 20813-0412USA

Abstract

Exposure to radiation induces a reduction in the number of gastrointestinal, anaerobic bacterial flora, and an increase in the number of Enterobacteriaceae that are associated with sepsis and mortality. Antimicrobials that suppress anaerobic flora have a deleterious effect on survival by promoting earlier enterobacterial sepsis. In contrast, in studies of animals and immunosuppressed patients, antimicrobials that inhibit gram-negative enteric bacteria and preserve the anaerobic flora have shown a beneficial effect by preventing bacterial translocation and fatal sepsis. The quinolone antimicrobials hold potential for therapy of endogenous and exogenous infection after irrodiation.

Type
Collective Review
Copyright
Copyright © World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine 1993

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