SURVEILLANCE OF BURN WOUND INFECTIONS - A PROPOSAL FOR DEFINITIONS

The diagnosis of burn wound infections is a subjective art, with no re cent attempts to standardize or validate the definitions of terms used to discuss such infections. The Centers for Disease Control included definitions of types of burn wound infections in its definitions for n osocomial infections in 1988. Although the other Centers for Disease C ontrol criteria for nosocomial infections have epidemiological applica tions, its criteria for burn wound infections have neither clinical no r epidemiological value to burn centers and their health care provider s. With the approval of the Board of Trustees of the American Burn Ass ociation, the authors of this article formed a working subcommittee of the Committee on the Organization and Delivery of Burn Care. Definiti ons of burn wound infections are presented for consideration for appli cation in either of 2 areas: (1) surveillance of burn wound infections in burn centers and (2) standardized criteria for multicenter clinica l trials or national registries.