Abstract
It is important to distinguish between colonization and infection. Some acute
wounds and virtually all chronic wounds contain bacteria and many heal. Occlusive
dressings, have been used as part which speed healing, reduce pain and scarring, in
fact, encourage microbial proliferation in wounds (22,37), yet the infection rate is
lower under occlusive dressings than under conventional dry dressings (38,39).
Therefore, the mere presence of bacteria is not necessarily bad. Whether faster healing using occlusive dressings is related to the increased number of bacteria is under
investigation.