Soon I will have my 4 wisdom teeth surgically removed. So many wounds in the mouth during the first days after surgery.
I know that the risk of contamination is small, but given the serious consequences of flesh-eating bacteria, I would like to check whether you can take precautions. For example, is blood testing possible after surgery to check whether there is no infection?
Apparently you get the bacteria through a wound because you are a carrier yourself or through transfer. So can you check yourself whether you are a carrier or is this not possible? And what if you are a carrier?
Answer
Most people are carriers of this bacteria (Streptococcus pyogenes). Only in exceptional cases do complications arise (at the beginning of this year there were about twenty cases in our country, the year before about ten).
Answered by
Prof. dr. Dr. Luc Bouwens
Biomedical Sciences
Pleinlaan 2 1050 Ixelles
http://www.vub.ac.be/
.