In the aftermath of gunshot wounds, survival is only the first threshold — what follows in the hospital bed can quietly reshape a patient's fate. A University of Maryland study tracking more than 24,000 firearm injury patients across hundreds of hospitals found that roughly one in twenty developed a bacterial infection, most often while still hospitalized, with the gravest risks clustering around surgeries of the head, neck, spine, and abdomen. The research, published in JAMA Network Open, offers medicine a clearer map of a largely uncharted complication, one that compounds an already difficul
Study: 5% of hospitalized firearm injury patients develop bacterial infections
Approximately 1,236 firearm injury patients developed bacterial infections requiring additional medical intervention and potentially contributing to long-term pain and disability.