An infection occurs when body tissues are invaded by disease-causing or pathogenic bacteria. There can be no bacterial infection without the presence of pathogenic bacteria.
Bacterial infections can be severe as bacteria can cause organ damage or other severe complications.
The term "infection" has some exceptions. For example, the normal growth of the usual bacterial flora in the intestinal tract is not usually considered an infection. The same consideration applies to the bacteria that normally inhabit the mouth.
An infection may remain localized or it may spread, becoming a systematic or generalized infection. Pimples, boils, and abscesses are examples of localized infections.
Systematic infection, for example, the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis may spread to many internal organ which the condition known as military tuberculosis.
A physician’s or surgeon’s diagnosis of infection derived from direct observation during surgery, endoscopic examination, or other diagnostic study or based on clinical judgments is an acceptable criterion for an infection.
Identification of the causal agent is essential to establish the etiology of a bacterial infection and as a guide to selecting appropriate antibiotic therapy.
What is meant by bacterial infection?
