Evaluation of White Blood Cell Count, Lymphocyte Percentage, Neutrophil Percentage, and Elevated Temperature as Predictors of Wound Infection in Burn Patients

Infection remains a chief cause of morbidity and mortality among burn patients. The burn wound surface is initially sterile after a thermal injury but eventually gets colonized by microorganisms. A burn wound is considered infected upon the presence of high concentrations of microorganisms in the wound and scab. Burn wound infections can lead to a delay in epidermal maturation, higher scar formation, and sepsis. However, burn patients are commonly misclassified as septic due to the manifestation of systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) after their injury, despite the presence or absence of an infection.