Chester Herbalist

An infection occurs when an organism, most commonly a bacteria, enters your body and multiplies. It may enter your body through an open wound that is not properly cleaned and looked after. While multiplying, the organism usually requires nutrients which it gets from your surrounding healthy cells. In order to get these nutrients, the organism usually causes damage to your healthy tissues and releases toxins which destroy your cells. Your body responds by sending specialised white blood cells from your immune system to fight the infection. These specialised cells get to the site of infection via the blood and therefore the blood supply to the area is increased, which causes redness, swelling and heat in the area. As your cells fight and destroy the foreign organisms, they may also be injured and destroyed. Pus is made up mostly of broken pieces of your cells.

Warning signs of an infection are red streaks radiating from the wound and rotten smell (caused by the metabolic activities of the organisms). If your wounds become infected and you are not able to control the infection then it is very important to consult a healthcare practitioner before the infection spreads to other parts of your body. Please consult your healthcare practitioner if your infection has not healed within three days.