US Department of Defense
BLAST INJURY RESEARCH
COORDINATING OFFICE
Advancing Blast Injury Research to Protect and Heal Those Who Serve

International State-of-the-Science Meeting on Minimizing the Impact of Wound Infections Following Blast-Related Injuries

Wound infection continues to be a significant source of morbidity and mortality in the modern era of military healthcare. Victims of blast injury often suffer from multiple traumatic injuries; the mechanism, severity, and complexity of these injuries contribute to the risk for wound infection. Approximately one quarter of combat wounds become infected, which significantly impacts patient outcomes and healthcare costs. In response to this issue, the DoD Blast Injury Research Program Coordinating Office (PCO) organized the 2016 International State-of-the-Science (SoS) Meeting on "Minimizing the Impact of Wound Infections Following Blast-Related Injuries" in Arlington, Virginia on November 29 – December 1, 2016.

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Purpose and Meeting Objectives

  • Determine predictive risk factors for wound infections following blast-related injuries, including individual susceptibility and environmental contributions, from point of injury through continued hospital care.
  • Identify candidate biomarkers that would enable rapid and accurate diagnosis, management, and prognosis of wound infections following blast-related injuries.
  • Examine prevention strategies, including vaccines, for mitigation of wound infections following blast-related injuries.
  • Propose strategies that would mitigate the impact of multi-drug resistant, virulent, or opportunistic organisms on wound infections following blast-related injuries.

Questions for Discussion

The meeting participants were charged with answering the following questions during the working group sessions:

  • How can our understanding of risk factors of wound infections, bacterial or fungal, following blast-related injuries, be applied to advance prediction, prevention, detection, and treatment strategies?
  • What candidate biomarkers, from either host or pathogen, can potentially enable rapid and accurate diagnosis, management, and prognosis of wound infections and biofilm formation following blast-related injuries?
  • What prevention strategies, to include the use of vaccines, can be employed to reduce the incidence of wound infections across the continuum of care (point of injury to US military hospital setting) following blast-related injuries?
  • What strategies hold the most promise for the treatment of wound infections associated with blast-related injuries and what are the challenges in fielding these?

Event Photos

Last modified: 18-Jun-2019