Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes

New imaging approach offers unprecedented views of staph infection

Eric Skaar, PhD, MPH, marvels at the images on his computer screen—3-D molecular-level views of infection in a mouse. "I'm pretty convinced that these are the most advanced images in infection biology," said Skaar, Ernest ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes

Common antimicrobials help patients recover from MRSA abscesses

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteria are resistant to multiple antibiotics and commonly cause skin infections that can lead to more serious or life-threatening infection in other parts of the body. ...

Dentistry

Preventing needless dental emergencies

The number of patients hospitalized for dental infections that could have been prevented with regular care or in-office root canals rose nearly 42 percent from 2000 to 2008, according to a first-of-its-kind study. In contrast, ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes

Emergency departments still missing signs of pelvic disease in teens

Despite government efforts to expand diagnostic criteria for pelvic inflammatory disease, emergency department doctors are not identifying the condition any more often in adolescent girls, finds a new study in Journal of ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes

High prevalence of drug-resistant MRSA found in nursing homes

While most infection control measures are focused on hospitals, a new study points to the need for more targeted interventions to prevent the spread of drug-resistant bugs in nursing homes as community-associated strains ...

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Abscess

An abscess (Latin: abscessus) is a collection of pus (dead neutrophils) that has accumulated in a cavity formed by the tissue in which the pus resides due to an infectious process (usually caused by bacteria or parasites) or other foreign materials (e.g., splinters, bullet wounds, or injecting needles). It is a defensive reaction of the tissue to prevent the spread of infectious materials to other parts of the body. One example of an abscess is a BCG-oma, which is caused because of incorrect administration of the BCG vaccine.

The organisms or foreign materials kill the local cells, resulting in the release of cytokines. The cytokines trigger an inflammatory response, which draws large numbers of white blood cells to the area and increases the regional blood flow.

The final structure of the abscess is an abscess wall, or capsule, that is formed by the adjacent healthy cells in an attempt to keep the pus from infecting neighboring structures. However, such encapsulation tends to prevent immune cells from attacking bacteria in the pus, or from reaching the causative organism or foreign object.

Abscesses must be differentiated from empyemas, which are accumulations of pus in a preexisting rather than a newly formed anatomical cavity.

This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA