Mortality of germfree and conventional mice after thermal trauma

Abstract

Germfree mice survive thermal trauma better than conventional mice. Mortality during the first 48 hr (shock mortality) after severe (95 C) and moderate (70 C) hot-water burns was significantly less in germfree animals than in conventional controls. Mortality after 48 hr (late mortality) was significantly reduced in germfree mice after a moderate burn. These experiments, together with the previous finding of gram-negative bacteria in the tissues of conventional burned mice, demonstrate that bacteria cause death in burned mice during the shock period as well as later.