This site is intended for healthcare professionals

Go to /sign-in page

You can view 5 more pages without signing in

Gas gangrene

Last reviewed dd mmm yyyy. Last edited dd mmm yyyy

Authoring team

Gas gangrene is a type of wet gangrene resulting from clostridial infection, especially Clostridium perfringens (welchii).

Clostridia are anaerobic organisms that can survive and multiply only in tissues where there is a low oxygen tension.

The usual site for infection is a dirty wound which has been closed without adequate debridement. The toxins produced by these organisms destroy the cell wall and rapidly lead to tissue necrosis, thus producing disease spread.

Other Clostridia can cause gas gangrene. These include Clostrium novyi and Clostidium septicum.


Related pages

Create an account to add page annotations

Annotations allow you to add information to this page that would be handy to have on hand during a consultation. E.g. a website or number. This information will always show when you visit this page.