[Surgical site infections at Töölö hospital and the dog days myth].
BACKGROUND
In the Finnish folklore, the time from June 23 to August 23 has been called "rotten month" (dog days), whereupon wound healing is delayed due to infections.


METHODS
A retrospective comparison was made of surgical infections entered in the infections register at Töölö hospital over the dog days of 2002 to 2005.


RESULTS
Of 49517 surgical operations, 8 % were performed during dog days, during which the number of contaminated and infected surgeries was higher.


CONCLUSIONS
The risk of deep surgery wound infection of organ infection during dog days is two times higher than at other times.
Koljonen
Virve
V
Töölön sairaala, plastiikkakirurgian klinikka PL 266, 00029 HUS.
Tukiainen
Erkki
E
Pipping
Denise
D
Kolho
Elina
E
D005387:Finland / Q000453:epidemiology; D005495:Folklore; D006801:Humans; D012042:Registries; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012621:Seasons; D013530:Surgical Wound Infection / Q000453:epidemiology*; D014945:Wound Healing